


Void

by ICantGetADecentName



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Crime? I guess, Deviates From Canon, Drama, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Friendship, I mean there is romance but not the main point of the story, I'm going to headcanon a lot of things, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Love, Mentions of Blood, Mild Language, Non-Linear Narrative, Romance, Violence, i may or may not have forgotten to describe this mc, may or may not be consistent with lessons 21 and above, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:36:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27498814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICantGetADecentName/pseuds/ICantGetADecentName
Summary: “How are you?” she asks.“Let’s just say, I can’t wait until Diavolo takes the throne,” there was resignation in Lucifer’s voice that Justine wishes she could erase. His head must be killing him nowadays.He couldn't lose control, not now, not ever.
Relationships: Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	1. The Night is Just About to Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the MC in this story is a female named “Justine”. She’s in her mid-twenties and works in a corporate setting. And that’s as much as you need for her backstory actually. In this story, events introduced in-game happened during the timeskip, which is more or less the foundation for Justine and Lucifer’s relationship.
> 
> Each character will have a chapter in their POV. Let’s start with the former Devildom exchange student, Justine.

Justine exited the restaurant with a wave of goodbye to her coworkers. The team dinner was delightful as everybody wanted to get to know the new recruits to the company. The others have decided to go bar hopping as it is a Friday night, but Justine has opted out. Her wallet and bank account wouldn’t be able to handle any more unnecessary expenses.

It will be Lucifer's birthday soon and the gift she just bought wasn't cheap. The cuff links she saw at the jewelry shop across their work building had a marbled black and white design. It was small enough to not be flamboyant but elegant enough to hold one's gaze.

She’s always been told by the brothers that her soul is white, and maybe Lucifer isn’t the only possessive one in their relationship.

She was going to have to walk home tonight. It won’t be long, thirty minutes max. But the night is somehow chilly, and dare she say it.

Lonely.

Justine finds her mind wandering.

It has been almost two years since the end of the exchange program, and while most of what she learned in RAD are barely applicable in the human world. She was grateful for the experience. She didn’t expect to find friends in those seven brothers nor fall in love with one of them.

But Justine guesses that’s just how life happens.

Right after the exchange program, Justine was steeling herself into trying to forget about him despite the promises he whispered in her ear on her last night there. They will live far longer than she would and the distance between them isn’t something she can easily traverse. The brothers continued chatting through the DDD, but Lucifer had been silent.

On the fourth day of her return to the human world, she was drinking her cup of instant coffee and perusing the web for job opportunities. Her DDD rang and she was quick to pick it up. None had tried calling her yet.

The next thing Justine knew; she was opening her door to the demon calling her. Lucifer stepped into her apartment like he was coming home, gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, then proceeded to put the bouquet of roses he brought in a vase with water.

Go figure. Justine swore there was a smirk on his handsome features the whole time. He even had the gall to ask for spare keys. 

Then, it was visits and phone calls and more text messages from then on. They may be apart, but she never felt neglected. 

Justine really, really misses him.

She reached for her phone and plugged in her earplugs, a black one with half a heart where the two wires meet, to her DDD. Hopefully, some music may help her case but thought against it. 

He was the first person on her contacts.

“Justine...”, Lucifer answered after two rings. He sounds breathless and usually, he would have picked up immediately.

“Lu? Is something wrong?” Maybe he’s busy. Should she call another time?

“Not anymore.” he answers, still wavering but otherwise sounding fine, “I was hoping you’d call. I was getting antsy.”

Justine can’t help but worry. “Are you sure? Do you need anything?” she asks, just to be sure.

“I just wanted to hear your voice. Is that selfish of me?” Lucifer replies in a smoother tone.

“Are you sure? I could probably talk your ear off right now,” Justine teases.

“While that is physically impossible, I’d like to see you try.”

“Challenge accepted!” There’s a skip to her steps now. Justine wonders if he can hear it.

“Well, how are things?” Lucifer asks.

“It’s been an eventful day. All good, though. I’m just on my way to my apartment.”

“This late?”

“The others wanted to eat out. I told you about the new recruits in the department, right?”

“The two fresh graduates and one from the competitor company,” Lucifer says.

“Yeah, them,” Justine confirms, “Cris has his eyes on one of them and wanted to, you know.” 

“Pulling an Asmodeus, I see.” Lucifer is none too amused. Meanwhile, Justine just knows that those two would get along swimmingly.

“He can be quite a handful sometimes, but he never means harm.” Justine defends her only work friend. “So, Cris was about to give Vic, the one from the other company, a napkin with his number on it when Vic asked for my number.”

“Maybe I should accompany you next time,” Lucifer replies. And while there was that jealous inflection in his voice, she knows that he trusts her.

“As much as I want you here with me right now, I don’t really want a repeat of what happened that one time you visited the office.” Justine replies, quickly changing the subject and hopefully appease her jealous boyfriend.

“Justine, you need to be more specific. Did you mean when I saw Cris hit on you, when he hit on me, or when he suggested a polyamorous relationship?” her irritated, jealous boyfriend replies.

Or not, but whatever.

“Lu, I meant when Cris almost had a heart attack after he saw your beautiful wings.”

“As your self-proclaimed best friend, Cris should have known that I--” he corrected himself, “--we don’t share.”

“You could have gone easy on him. He has a weak heart, he’s just trying to live life to the fullest.”

Lucifer sighs, before he continues. “So, about this Vic, would you mind giving me his full name? His address would be preferable, but his phone number would be enough.”

“Lucifer!”

“I may or may not be kidding.” He answers with a slight chuckle, his voice seems lighter. “Shouldn’t you be at home by now?”

“Oh, I’m walking right now.” Justine replies, biting her lip. Lucifer may trust her to stay loyal but that doesn’t mean he’s not overprotective when it comes to everything else.

“Why?” the edge has returned to Lucifer’s voice and Justine kissed progress bye-bye.

“It’s a secret,” Justine answers tentatively.

“You know how I don’t like secrets.”

“Sorry about that, but I promise this isn’t anything close to the Belphie conundrum. In fact, you might even like it,” Justine answers jovially.

“I’d like it even better if you tell me.” At least this time his voice is a little calmer, a cute pleading rather than that “obey me or there will be consequences” tone.

“Lucifer, please?” she tries again. She’s probably making that puppy dog eyes she knows he always falls for even though he can’t see her. It works every time, maybe he’ll hear it in her voice?

“Alright,” he relents, “Which route are you taking?”

“I’m currently walking on the 42nd street.”

“That’s,” there was a pause on the other end of the line, “Be careful.” he finally says.

“I will,” Justine replies. She’s been on this road a thousand times before, she knows it like the back of her hand. 

“By the way, how is everybody?” Justine asks.

“You chat with my brothers every day, can we keep them out of this conversation?” He sounds exasperated, but it isn’t the worrisome kind.

“But, you like talking about them! Don’t even deny it!” Justine answers with a little more weight, then quickly softens her voice, “Besides, I want to hear your voice, too.”

Justine hears him sigh before he starts, “Fair enough, it’s been rather quiet here.”

He talks about how Satan looks like he’s making progress with the detective novel he’s writing. She laughs at how Asmo managed to drag Belphie and Levi to their ninth bar this past century. He points out that Beel is expecting Luke to arrive sometime soon, their resident glutton has been stocking up on baking ingredients. Justine chuckles when Lucifer basically complained when Mammon just pushed him out of the kitchen just earlier. 

“And, Diavolo has been giving me less work, he thinks I don’t notice.” He says absent-mindedly. His mind is heavy, and Justine knows the implications of that.

“How are you?” she asks. He won’t be able to avoid this question. 

“Let’s just say, I can’t wait until Diavolo takes the throne,” there was resignation in Lucifer’s voice that Justine wishes she could erase. His head must be killing him nowadays.

“Hey, Lucifer?” she tries.

“Yes?”

“Humor me a bit, okay?” She hears him let out a non-committal “hmm” at that. She continues, “Your name means ‘light bearer’, right?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Yes, it does.” Lucifer confirms.

“When their doesn’t seem to be any light, where do you get it from?” It was a thought she had while on her second can of beer at the restaurant.

“What do you mean?”

“Who brings light to the light bearer?”

“I don’t see where this...”

“Let me be that person.” Justine’s said it. No turning back now.

“Justine, where is this coming from?” was Lucifer’s reply. Justine senses his confusion and weaves her words carefully.

“It’s just that I know things have been hectic down there and there is pressure for you to keep things a semblance of sane but I am just one call away. If ever you need someone to rant about or anything, I will listen. If there’s anything I can help with, you can come to me, okay?”

He doesn’t speak but she knows he’s listening. She continues.

“I know I have my limits but I love you—” she may have heard a dull thud on the other end of the line or not, her heart is pounding in her ears— “so much that whenever things get a bit too dark. I’d be happy to shed a little light for you.”

There was a breathless reply on the other line, “What?”

“What do you mean what?” she asks kind of hoping he’s joking ‘cause this is getting embarrassing.

“Can you say that again?” Then he added, “please?”

“I’d be happy...”

“Before that.”

“Oh.”

There was a heavy breath on the other side of the phone, accompanied by rapid footsteps before he spoke, “did you mean it?”

“Of course, I do!” her heart is thundering in her chest, “it must have slipped but that doesn’t make it less real. I love you.”

There was still silence on the other line. Then, Justine heard the swooshing sound of cloth.

“Lucifer, are you still there?”

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry that was sudden.”

“It’s alright...”

“I’m coming over.” Lucifer announces.

“Wait, what?” Did Justine hear that right? “Now?” 

“Let’s spend the night together. I'll pick you up wherever you are.” He says before adding, “And Justine.”

“Yes?” Her heart is still pounding in her chest, what more could he add?

“Let me show you how much I love you.”

It was Justine’s turn to freeze. To say that her cheeks were warm were an understatement.

The call ended at that. She tried calling again but somehow her DDD could not get a proper signal. 

Didn’t matter. If he says he’s coming, then she can wait ‘till then.

She must have shouted the moment she put the phone inside her bag. Because there was no way she could contain her giddiness and joy. Good thing no one was in the immediate vicinity.

Justine could not even believe she said it. She wanted to say it to him face to face the first time. But, man, you have to take what you can get in a long distance relationship, she guesses.

She was practically skipping on her way home, when a sharp pain manifested on her right side and soon she found it hard to breathe. 

A knife is embedded on her side between her ribs. She barely got the chance to see the face of her attacker when the knife pulled away and blood started gushing from her wound.

Her attacker quickly tugged on her shoulder bag before running away. Her knees gave out below her.

The wound sliced across Belphie’s pact mark from what she could see from her ripped clothing. 

The black mark was reddish. Or glowing. Or maybe that was just her imagination or the blood loss. Probably.

Justine wanted to walk. Maybe Lucifer’s already at the end of this street, near her apartment, somewhere. The hospital is too far away, and the damn bastard took her human phone and DDD. 

She tried shouting, but there is barely enough in her to even breathe. She could taste blood at the back of her tongue.

It didn’t take her a couple of steps before her legs gave away again and she found herself lying on the asphalt.

“Don’t worry, Lucifer. Everything is going to be okay,” she whispers to the wind, hoping it would take her message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, finally got to posting this ahahahahahaha. All the tags I can think of are there just to be on the safe side, nothing really explicit but things will dive into its own circle of chaos.
> 
> I was genuinely excited for this one but when I got glimpses of it as it completes, I was uhhhh what the heck happened there. So really this delved into a weird fever dream, I guess?
> 
> When I first conceptualized this story, Chapter 21 wasn't out yet. And since I've been writing this, I have decided not to read any further chapters just so that I don't get discouraged by this story straying out of canon. Coz from what I accidentally saw in blog posts and stuff, this story has already deviated from canon.
> 
> Anyway, the whole thing is actually done. Will post every other day or so just so I can do final revisions and maybe take a breather before posting the next chapter.
> 
> That's all for now, I wish y'all a wonderful day and stay safe everybody!!!!!


	2. Breathe while you still can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So why is everyone trying not to burden Lucifer? Let’s see what’s inside his head while we can still decipher his thoughts.

He knew it before Diavolo had a chance to tell him. 

The King of the Devildom is on his deathbed.

That means, the shift in power in Devildom will strain the balance of all three realms. Until Lord Diavolo succeeds his father to the throne, Lucifer will feel this nagging pull at the back of his mind. This is a precarious time for everyone. 

There is something he must keep at bay, a job given onto him the moment he was created. Not even his rebellion and fall to the Devildom changed this particular task. But this will be the first time he has to endure this without the help of his father.

As long as his name is “Light Bearer”, he must keep this darkness away.

As such, Diavolo has given him less work. The piles of report on his desk has been shrinking ever since Diavolo told him the news about the king. And if Mammon’s less exuberant behavior is to be credited, his brother might not have been so clueless after all.

In fact, Mammon has just sent Lucifer out of the kitchen taking over his cooking duties for the night. He relented only because of the headache he got and not because of the smile Mammon gave him reminiscent of the time when the demon was still a young angel. Puppy dog eyes definitely do not work on Lucifer. He finished his cup of tea and was on his way.

But that left him with nothing to occupy his hands with and a noisy head. 

A combination he’d rather not deal with.

But here he is, with a large femur on his way to Cerberus. The cursed soundtrack of TSL humming from the earplugs Justine had bought him while on a visit to the human world. The earplugs were white, he made sure they were always so, and had half a heart where the wire splits apart. It was the other half of a set.

Usually, the haunting melody will be enough to soothe him after a long day of paperwork and his brother’s shenanigans. But now...

The whispers in his head are slowly turning to static and he can’t seem to find his own voice in the chaos.

His phone starts ringing, one of Mozart’s most popular compositions, a specific ringtone for a special person. It takes him a moment to collect himself before the name on his DDD becomes clearer.

“Justine...”

“Lu? Is something wrong?” 

“Not anymore.” he answers.

And just like that he can think clearly again. He knows it’s dangerous to rely on anyone, a human, nonetheless. But until he can find another method, her voice is the only thing that can ground his turbulent mind.

The conversation goes as usual. They talk about what happened in each other’s absence, he can feel the longing in her voice. He really needs an excuse to visit her right now.

She’s walking in a dangerous area of her neighborhood that much he learned from studying her surroundings. But if she’s speaking with him, then he knows she’ll be fine. He plans on keeping this call connected until she gets home.

Then, the conversation shifts. Justine’s making a promise to him, a promise Lucifer knows she may not be able to keep. But as humans say, it’s the thought that counts. Until...

“I know I have my limits, but I love you—”

He stopped in his tracks. He feels like somebody used one of his brothers to smack him across the face, but the lingering sensation was one of weightlessness.

“Oh.”

He did not like the sound of that. If she retracts her statement, he knows he’s done for. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating just by the pressure in his chest alone. He ran towards a special mirror stored somewhere in the basement. It should be stored no more than a couple more paces to his right. “Did you mean it?”

His breath hitched in his throat as he heard her quiet, “yes.” He feels his heart start beating again just by those words, “it must have slipped but that doesn’t make it less real. I love you.” 

No, he would not admit to blushing. But the image staring at him through the mirror shows him how his cheeks are about to give his crimson eyes a run for their money.

But what he was most interested in is the peculiar orb on his chest, his soul. It was a dark orb almost blending with his black shirt as a background. He would not have seen it if one, he weren’t looking for it and two...

There was another bright orb beside it.

The reflection of Justine’s white soul looks like it was hugging his dark soul from the side.

“Lucifer, are you still there?” he hears her say from the other side.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry that was sudden.” It was blinding, but he has never felt such a sense of calm before. Not when he was an angel and especially not at a time like this. It felt like he was floating on clouds, a completely different sensation from soaring through the skies. He feels like his feet has lifted from the floor.

Her words of confirmation only cemented that sensation. His being was suddenly surrounded in a peace that not even the void of chaos can destroy. 

He has made his decision. “I’m coming over.”

She has just accepted him. Unwittingly, bonding her soul to his. She must know. He will tell her.

“Let’s spend the night together.” And there is so much more he wants to do with her, to her, now that he knows Justine is his. “I can pick you up wherever you are ... and Justine.”

“Yes,” Justine answers in a breathy tone that only excites him more.

“Let me show you how much I love you.”

The call ended at that. He tried calling again. But his DDD has lost signal. 

The static in his head has returned stronger.

He typed a quick text to Diavolo as he turned back the way he came. But when no reply came back as he entered the Dining Room, he knew. He typed in another message and locked his phone.

It took everything in him to keep a careful facade and take his place at the table. He looked at his brothers before him, none of them seemed to notice his arrival.

But Satan somehow sensed his eyes and was now looking at him in concern. The fourth eldest tugged on Mammon’s sleeve.

Mammon jumped back in his seat almost theatrically. Enough to garner the attention of most of his brothers.

Lucifer sighed before announcing, “The King is dead.”

  


* * *

  


Dinner proceeded quietly. The quiet only made it more apparent that the static in his head is indeed there.

A feat given who Lucifer’s brothers are and their tendency to just cause a ruckus. But he guesses, the news is enough to kill the life of any party. 

They have just discussed visiting the palace in the morning when a pained yell erupted from the table.

“Belphie,” Beel shouted from the other side of the table, “what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Belphie was clutching his side.

Lucifer stood up and watched as Beel walked to the other side of the table and pulled Belphie’s chair. 

“He’s bleeding!” Beel exclaimed before laying his brother on the floor.

The rest of the brothers crowded around the two watching as faint glow came with the oozing of blood. 

“Why is it not healing?” Beel clutched Belphie’s hand tighter.

“I think I know,” Mammon says. “If somebody you have a pact with gets injured on the pact mark, then it manifests on you, too. It’s going to disappear when the threat to the human is neutralized.”

Justine has a pact with Belphegor. Lucifer tries to calm himself. Belphie’s mark is on her other side, right? 

“Belphie dear, who else do you have a pact with?” Asmo asks, crouching beside Beel.

“Only Justine.”

Lucifer takes a deep breath, the static in his head has started to thunder. If he doesn’t get this under control, there will be more problems and he won’t be there to fix this.

“Asmo, can you do something about the pain?” Lucifer said.

“I think I can charm him to not feel it, or at the least make him go to sleep.” Asmo replies. “But what about Justine?”

“Damn it!” Mammon exclaims. “Lucifer, Justine has been stabbed, do something!” 

He wants to do something, he needs to do something, but he can’t even think clearly with the noise in his head.

“All portals to and from the Devildom are closed until Diavolo is crowned king. DDDs are also not working as a safeguard. So, until she uses a pact to call any of us, we can’t reach the human realm.” Lucifer replies. 

“But Justine does not have magic. How will she call us?” Levi mutters, pulling his hair.

To that Lucifer has no reply. The pact his brothers have with her can only be used with a fair amount of magic. The pact he gave her is a lot more lenient on her side, but unless certain conditions are met, she won’t be able to call him either.

Breathe in, breathe out. Find control. Minimize the problems, do what can be done right now. “Asmo, Belphie.” Lucifer reminds his brother.

“Okay, okay.” Asmo crouches lower and guides Belphie’s eyes to his. “Belphie, look at me.”

Belphie keeps his eyes shut and instead asked for his pillow. Beel immediately grabs it from where it fell below the dining table.

“No,” Belphie grimaces as he curls in a tighter ball around his pillow. His sigil manifests on the cushion.

“I may be able to reach Justine. If I can feel her pain, then our bond is strengthened momentarily.” He winces and the sigil glows brighter. “If I can force my magic into the bond, then it might be enough for her to summon one of us.”

“Do you have enough?” Satan asks.

“The reason I sleep a lot is to store energy remember, never knew I would use it like this.”

“Can we help?” Beel asks.

Belphie was trying to explain why not when the world around Lucifer darkens. Time slows down, but his heart pounds faster, harder. He feels his wings and horns sprout on their own. 

Amid that standstill, he hears a gentle whisper, “Don’t worry, Lucifer. Everything is going to be okay.”

And instead of Belphie and his brothers on the floor. He saw Justine in a pool of her own blood. A few feet away a man in a black trench coat and black hat stands in wait, watching.

Blood is everywhere. The pool has reached the tips of her long hair. Her hands are on top of the wound, but they are no longer pressing down. Her bag is nowhere to be found. She looks so pale. Her eyes are still open but lidded, they look so lifeless.

“Justine, Justine, it’s me.” Lucifer grips her shoulder.

Lucifer kneels next to Justine. When she starts shivering, he cradles her close to him. Two fingers to her neck and a cheek to the front of her lips confirm that she is still breathing. Alive but barely there. Her face is unbearably white, a trail of blood flows down her lips. Lucifer presses his hands on the wound.

“You’re here,” his beloved says, tears falling from her eyes. A bloodied hand finds itself cupping his cheek. There’s a genuine smile on her face.

“You called for me,” his voice is firm but his eyes quiver. His mind is still a mess, a jumble of thoughts he wants to express but words do not form.

“Don’t cry,” Justine says, her mouth is curved upward but her voice sounds broken. He feels her thumb moving across his cheek, pushing the warmth away.

“Hang in there. I’m going to handle this. Everything will be alright.” Lucifer manages to say.

Justine nods once before resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

He pats her cheek gently, “Stay with me.”

“Okay,” he hears her whisper but her eyes do not reopen. Lucifer feels the black figure move closer.

“Not today and not on my watch,” he warns the man in black.

The grim reaper does not reply but continues watching.

Lucifer finds himself powering down to access his vest and overcoat. Then, it doesn’t take much for him to rip his vest and tie it around her abdomen and wrap his overcoat tightly on her figure.

He transforms again and flies to the nearest hospital. A quick charm to the paramedic at the emergency and a glance at the CCTV ensures that nobody will see him as more than a man. The figure in black reappears in the emergency room.

“You cannot take her away from me,” Lucifer says to the angel beside him. 

“You and I both know that that is not my decision to make,” the grim reaper replies. 

A nurse approaches him.

“Sir, what is your relation to the patient?”

“I’m her husband,” he says. She accepted him, he accepted her. Their souls are bonded and that was it. He couldn’t care less what anyone else says. 

The same nurse was about to ask another question when a different nurse rush towards them. Lucifer watches as Justine is wheeled away.

“Sir, the hospital was expecting blood delivery today, but it did not arrive. We’d like to ask if you can call anyone that has the same blood type as the patient.”

The grim reaper stood and was about to follow Justine when Lucifer meets his eyes once. He dares the reaper to take a foot closer to Justine.

Lucifer turns to both nurses. “We’re of the same blood type.”

“Are you sure, sir?”

Blood types will be irrelevant. His demon blood will conform to hers as soon as it is injected. Her body will be replacing it after a while anyway.

“I won’t be offering you my blood if I wasn’t.” He shoves his arm toward them again. “Take it.”

  


* * *

  


After the operation, he follows her gurney to the recovery room he reserved. The doctor explains that the blade was angled upward and was able to puncture her diaphragm and the lower part of her lung. The operation went well but she wants to keep her under observation because she lost a lot of blood and they already took as much as they can from him. Furthermore, without any knowledge on the weapon that stabbed her they have no idea what other complications could arise. But they have already taken necessary precautions.

Therefore, she may not be out of the woods yet. The grim reaper has still not left the vicinity.

“What are you waiting for?” Lucifer asks the grim reaper. What more does he need to do to keep death away from Justine?

“Orders to leave,” the reaper replies. 

“Then, go.”

“Not your call,” there is dry humor to the grim reapers voice. 

To reapers, death is a journey for the soul, but to Lucifer it is a permanent farewell. He cannot let death take her, not now, not for as long as he can keep her at his side.

Lucifer transforms into his demon form and takes satisfaction in the way the grim reaper flinches at the sight. He pulls out the diamond on his forehead, a silver chain manifesting as he pries it away from his skin. Lucifer sits the diamond on Justine’s chest before securing the clasp behind her neck.

A phone rings and the grim reaper picks his up from the pocket of his trench coat. Lucifer watches him receive the message and offer a wave of farewell. 

Lucifer does not power down until he can no longer feel this reaper’s aura. There are so many others in this hospital, any one of them could be assigned to take Justine away from him. He finds it trying to calm down. Collecting his thoughts has been more of a chore with the threat of chaos taking over his head. But he needs a plan.

If he does this right, he’ll be able to save her without losing himself in the process. He takes a seat on Justine’s bedside and holds her hand firmly in his before turning to the phone beside the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was pondering on what the grim reaper will look like... I blame "Goblin"
> 
> aaaaand Justine has insurance, her boyfriend made sure of it.


	3. Of integrity and favors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wise men say, only fools rush in. And Solomon was known for being the wise dude.

“Hello, who is this?” Solomon says as he answers his human phone.

He was taking his time reading a book and sipping some tea. It was late in the night and he was starting to wind down to go to bed.

“Solomon,” says a voice he knows too well.

“Lucifer?” The exasperated sigh at the other line confirms the caller. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Solomon was sure Lucifer could hear his grin through the telephone.

“I need a favor.”

“A favor you say? Then, know that I’ll be cashing in on that quite soon.” There could not be a more opportune moment. And he thought, he’s going to have to go through Justine to convince Lucifer of his special request.

“What do you want? A pact?” Lucifer asks with a growl. There was a breaking sound at the other end.

Solomon hazards a guess at what that cracking sound was. “Careful, Lucifer, you don’t want to destroy the handle of a borrowed phone.” He chuckles. “Besides, I don’t want a pact with the gatekeeper.”

No answer on the other line. But he wonders what the demon is doing in the human realm this late at night.

Especially given the Devildom King’s condition.

“Alright. What do you want?”  


* * *

  
Asmodeus appears a few feet before him. 

Solomon expected the demon to be in sleepwear at this time of the night, but Asmo was still in his casual wear minus the scarf. His eyes were tired, and his hair looked like he has pulled on it a few too many times tonight.

“Now is not the time, Solomon.” Asmo greets him as soon as the circle disappears, and his body has materialized completely.

No smile. Something is definitely wrong.

“Don’t bark at me. I’m just a messenger. Lucifer wanted me to summon you.”

“We’re in the human realm,” Asmo says, eyes widening.

“Nowhere else.”

Asmo transforms, horns and wings appearing on his head and back. He took a quick look around the room and headed for the window. He was about to jump out when Solomon grabbed his arm.

“What do you want?” Asmo says, not even trying to hide his grimace at being halted.

“Take me with you,” Solomon replies. Asmo will not be able to say no to his request.

Asmo lets out a sigh before presenting both arms to Solomon. 

Solomon secures his arms around Asmo’s neck. “Hold on tight,” the demon says. Then, Asmo jumps of the window and glides through the sky like flying with somebody else in his arms is something he does on a regular basis.

They flew through the night sky, at times Asmo stays still with eyes closed, cocking his head one way then the other.

“Who are you looking for?” Solomon asks, the third time Asmo stops in midair.

“Justine,” Asmo replies.

“Wait a minute, I might have something.” Solomon says a spell to make Asmo more sensitive to their specific pact mark. Asmo’s eyes spark for a second. “Did it work?” he asks.

Asmo doesn’t reply but instead turns around and heads directly to the rooftop of a hospital. Solomon says another spell to open the rooftop door and not trip the alarms. Asmo looks like he might destroy the door in haste.

Through the corridors, Solomon tags behind Asmo. Soon, Asmo stops in front of a door for a moment. The name plate read “Justine Carr”.

When he opens the door, Solomon got a glimpse of Lucifer without his usual coat and vest before the demon transformed, wings spread outward, hiding his view of the bed. His cheek is painted in blood and the black diamond on his forehead is missing.

Lucifer seemed surprised by his visit. Peculiar, since the eldest brother should have been able to sense him as soon as they landed on the rooftop of the hospital.

“Why did you bring him here?” Lucifer asks Asmo without breaking eye contact with Solomon.

“He followed. I can’t stop him,” Asmo replied flatly.

The aura surrounding Lucifer would have scared anyone else. It was a darker shade of violet. “What do you want?”

“If Justine was the reason you asked me for a favor, then you owe me nothing.” Solomon says and runs a hand through his white hair. The sorcerer might be sly, but he has a sense of integrity, and what Justine did for him is something that deserves his gratitude. “I owe Justine a big one.”  


* * *

  
Lucifer wasn’t giving Solomon much to go on. Only that Justine has been stabbed and that he wants to find the culprit now. The fact that the Devildom King is dead is a fact he deduced from them needing him to bring in another brother to the human realm.

But Asmo did give him answers, can’t say that he liked some of those answers though. They did open some old wounds.

“I gave my phone number to the hospital in case they need to contact _‘the husband of the patient’_.” Solomon informs Lucifer as they walk through some dark street. The only lighting coming from a Japanese restaurant a few blocks back. The moon is nowhere to be seen tonight.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Lucifer asks, not even bothering to look back as he walks a few steps ahead.

“No, I do find it amusing that Justine can be so innocent about such things,” Solomon says “However, Lucifer, unless you forgot, you are the gatekeeper to chaos. Should you be doing this now?”

“If I delay this any longer, then the trail will run cold. The perpetrator has to pay.”

“If you lose control, Justine won’t be able to see the light of day,” Solomon warns.

“Are you trying to stop me?” Lucifer says, this time, turning around to face Solomon. 

Lucifer’s angry. What’s new? But there is something else in his countenance. Hesitation? Probably not, nobody can stop a vengeful lover, that much Solomon knows. Fear, closer and that’s kind of scary to think about considering this is the guy that actually rebelled against his creator.

It was desperation, with a generous scoop of helplessness bubbling underneath the surface.

“No,” Solomon answers, not faltering in his answer, “just making sure you still know what you are doing.”

“I advise you against antagonizing me, Solomon.” Lucifer warns, back straightening. But his aura calms down enough.

“That was never my goal,” Solomon says, walking beside the demon.

Using magic, it was easy enough to track Justine’s phone to an apartment complex. They find a bloodied kitchen knife in the garbage disposal on the way. Lucifer confirms Justine’s blood on the knife, Solomon dare not ask how.

They find the culprit. A man no older than forty, he was about to stick a needle in his arm when Solomon and Lucifer barge into his apartment. There was a lit candle and a packet of white powder on the table near him.

Solomon spares some effort into stopping Lucifer from outright killing the man, but it takes everything in him to not just let the demon do as he pleases. He’d be doing the same thing if he were in Lucifer’s shoes. 

The man was still screaming when they released him to the police, he did just see an actual demon. Hopefully, the fact that the man was going into withdrawal will prevent the police from believing him. Solomon sneaks a picture of the kitchen knife before handing it to an officer for evidence.

Solomon tells their story to one of the officers. Their friend was stabbed and her phone was stolen, they were able to track her phone and found the knife on the way. They called the police after apprehending the culprit. 

The officer informs him that an investigation will be to try to pin the man with attempted homicide, and at the very least, he would be charged with drug possession and theft. Then, the officer gave them a lecture about vigilantism but wishes their friend a safe recovery.

Just as the police left, Solomon’s phone rings. 

“Hello. I am from the hospital. Is this Mr. Carr?” the caller asks.

“No, but I’m with him.” Solomon presses a few buttons. “You’re on speaker phone.”

Lucifer grabs the phone regardless. “How is Justine?”

“Sir, I’m sorry to say but your wife is dead.”

Lucifer drops the phone.

Solomon picks it up and asks questions of his own. 

“We were called in because the patient stopped breathing, but when we were about to intubate, her heart stopped beating. We administered CPR but she could not be resuscitated.”

The doctor gives more technical information before she offers her condolences. The phone call ends and Solomon paces. 

Solomon zooms in on the picture of the knife. Sure enough, there was a label written in Japanese. The owner only uses this knife for pufferfish. Justine has been poisoned. A toxin that prevents the victim from breathing and could possibly just paralyze the heart. Consistent with what the doctor described.

“None of this makes sense,” Solomon starts. Lucifer said a grim reaper was trailing her from the street to the hospital. If the poison were in her from the start, wouldn’t the grim reaper stay? And, in the right hands, how can the knife be contaminated in the first place? Was it deliberate? The man they apprehended earlier doesn’t seem to be the cunning type. But he could have just as easily swiped the knife from the restaurant they passed by earlier.

Solomon spares a glance at Lucifer and finds him still standing in place but instead of shock, his head is bowed down, shoulders crouched inward. His hands are gripping on the hair at the side of his head. His demon form was flickering in and out of existence. Solomon can hear him murmuring a lullaby.

_Twinkle, twinkle little star  
How I wonder what you are?_

Solomon freezes. Have you ever been haunted by a melody?

_Up above the world so high  
Like a diamond in the sky_

What’s happening here is something he wished he didn’t understand.

“Lucifer?” Solomon tries again.

His demon form steadies, and his head slowly rises to level with Solomon’s. Tendrils of darkness weave throughout his figure. His eyes have been replaced by a black expanse that sucks in the light around it. His four wings are the blackest Solomon has ever seen, he can barely see any feathers.

“Oh, hello, Solomon,” Lucifer says a grin in his face, “Excuse me. I have an appointment to catch.” Then, he lifts off without another word.

Solomon says a quick spell and follows Lucifer through the skies. He needs to be the mitigator.

The tracks of Lucifer’s tears haunt him more than the black, soulless eyes of the demon. 

It’s a pain Solomon knows too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Medical accuracy is in a state of I don’t really know. Tetrodotoxin, the one found in pufferfishes, is deadlier than the fast-acting cyanide. It’s a neurotoxin, which means it affects the nervous system. The toxin prohibits the victim from breathing and on occasion paralyzes the heart. Whether basic life support or CPR could help in keeping the victim alive is a point I haven’t researched on quite yet, but the body can flush out the toxin through the urinary system (peeing). If you know about any inaccuracies I’ve presented in this story, feel free to comment below for future references, but I’m afraid this is how it must go for the advancement of the plot.


	4. The horrors of falling in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, Asmo has a lot to say on what really happened. He is the most observant of the seven of them, if you ask me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starts just after Lucifer disappeared from the House of Lamentations...

Asmodeus watches as Mammon flails frantically at Lucifer’s disappearance at the House of Lamentations. He also notices how Belphie’s wound is shrinking, but he’s are still too restless.

“Sleep,” Asmo says as he caught Belphie’s eyes. 

The seventh eldest immediately slumps down. Asmo runs a hand through his dark locks before signaling to Beel to take him to their room.

“Where in the Devildom did Lucifer disappear off to?!” Mammon shouts to no one in particular.

Levi hits him at the back of the head, “Belphie’s wound was slowly closing after Lucifer disappeared. Justine must have managed to call him.”

“Okay.” Mammon calms down before noticing three pairs of eyes staring at him. “What are you all looking at me for?”

“Ugh! Why does he have to be second eldest?” Asmo shouts at the ceiling.

“And what the heck do you mean by that, huh?” Mammon counters.

“He meant, with Lucifer gone, we’re supposed to follow you now, dumbass.” Levi answers.

There was something in Mammon’s expression that makes Asmo feel a little apologetic. But he’s not backing down, despite Mammon’s scummy behavior, he has to be responsible for all of them.

All of them knows this. Maybe that’s why Lucifer is especially hard on the second eldest. Lucifer needs Mammon to pick up the pieces in this worst-case scenario.

“So, what now?” Asmo says trying his best to not burden this de facto leader anymore. It was grating to be honest.

“I don’t know,” Mammon whispers out.

None of the others could say anything against that.  


* * *

  
They try their best to retire for the night. They really do.

But Asmo keeps pacing around the house. He sees Satan still reading books inside the library, probably trying to gather his thoughts enough to fall asleep. Belphie is still in his and Beel’s shared room sleeping. There doesn’t seem to be a trace of the magical wound from earlier, Beel isn’t there. There’s loud game music coming from Levi’s room.

Asmo finds himself drawn to Justine’s room from when she was an exchange student, and occasionally when Lucifer finds a reason to let her visit. He finds Mammon sitting on the bed. Beel is laying on his right side, head cushioned in his older brother’s lap. Mammon is rubbing Beel’s left arm. 

“Is he asleep?” Mammon asks as soon as he sees Asmo enter the room.

“I think so,” Asmo replies, brushing a bit of Beel’s hair away from his face, “his eyes are closed.”

“He’s heavy,” Mammon huffs out.

Asmo chuckles quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping giant on Mammon’s lap.

“I’ve always wanted the attention. But never like this,” Mammon starts. “I wish I were more like Lucifer.”

“Nobody can be like Lucifer,” Asmo assures him then thinks again. “Except Satan, but even he doesn’t want to be.”

“It’s just. I never knew this would happen.”

“Lucifer’s got Justine. Everything will be fine.”

“I know that! But the moment Justine was stabbed there was a big, big chance of Lucifer losing to the chaos. We might as well have lost him, too.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I am the Avatar of Greed, risks are my specialty.”

Asmo looks at him dumbfounded.

“I kinda lived on the motto, ‘High risk, high rewards.’ Doesn’t always work out for me, did make things more fun though,” he chuckles halfheartedly. “But enough bets thought me that anything above 80% is bound to happen.”

“But Lucifer believes in you, he trusted you with Justine’s guardianship when she first came here. And despite being the textbook definition of scum, he still got you Goldie.” Asmo says, never did he think there’d be a time when he’ll be consoling Mammon. “Besides, the fact that you aren’t demoted must mean something, right?”

Asmo looks at Beel sleeping soundly in Mammon’s lap.

“And, Beel trusts you to sleep with you around. And between the seven of us, this is as honest as it can get.”

Asmo watches as Mammon continues to rub his hand along Beel’s arm. He notices some of the stress leaves his brother’s face, and maybe that’s enough for now.

Then, he feels the call of a pact mark. He curses under his breath.

Mammon’s expression changes from serene, to surprised, then to a reassuring smile. 

Asmo hears Mammon say something before he is transported away from Justine’s room completely.  


* * *

  
Asmodeus finds himself face to face with Solomon. He would have been excited to see what Solomon is up to, especially at this time of the night. But now isn’t really the time. Until it hits him.

“Lucifer wanted me to summon you.” Solomon says.

Lucifer called him to the human realm. Justine is here and she needs help. And Asmo needs to know if she’s alright.

So he finds himself transforming and looking for a way out.

Solomon grabs his arm, and he really wants to strangle him right now. But there is a pleading look to his eyes that Asmo just cannot ignore. 

The pact mark sings, and he complies. Besides, Asmo’s gut tells him that they’d need the sorcerer sometime soon.

It was easy enough for him to carry Solomon in his arms while flying, he’s accompanied Justine in these kind of trips before. They flew throughout town. Darkness was all they needed to hide; no sane human will be looking up anyway.

He’s having trouble finding Justine. Their pact is still there but there is something clouding the frequency. It doesn’t help that her signal is a wee bit weak right now.

Then, the wise guy in his arms inquires yet again to boost that signal. He’s being helpful tonight. Asmo can’t help but be concerned. But he needs all the help he can get, demons can’t exactly say no to what they want.

And Asmo really, really needs to know that Justine is okay.

Asmo follows the pact to a hospital. Together, albeit he might have left Solomon a few paces back, they traverse the hallways of the hospital in relative silence. Most of the patients are resting and the rest of the staff are trying to be quiet. 

They stop in front of a room with a single nameplate, “Justine Carr.”

Asmo feels his brother’s frantic energy inside and Justine’s weak one. Lucifer’s energy is entangled with hers.

He opens the door.

Asmo notices Lucifer look up at him. His hair is disheveled and all that’s left on the top part of his outfit is his black long-sleeved shirt. His gloves sit at the bedside table, still reeking of blood. He sat on the side of her bed that allowed him to face the door.

It takes less than a second for Lucifer to look up from where he is clasping Justine’s free hand and recognize Solomon’s presence. Then, another second for him to completely block anyone’s view of the bed and Justine. Black wings spread on either side of him and a darker aura covering anything he physically isn’t. But the black diamond on his forehead is missing. A smudge of red covers the entirety of his right cheek.

“Why did you bring him here?” Lucifer asks Asmo.

“He followed. I can’t stop him,” Asmo replies. More like he doesn’t have enough time and energy to deal with refusing Solomon.

“What do you want?” Lucifer asks Solomon. Lucifer has always been wary of Solomon that was for sure. But given the circumstances, if Lucifer finds even a single threat from Solomon, then the sorcerer is as good as dead. Asmo can feel his brother’s energy pulsing out of control.

“If Justine was the reason you asked me for a favor, then you owe me nothing. I owe Justine a big one,” Solomon replies.

“What exactly do you owe Justine?” Lucifer asks again, still very much on guard. But Asmo feels his energy steadying.

“Let’s just say it’s something you would be able to relate to,” Solomon answers with a shit-eating grin on his face.

The aura surrounding his eldest brother becomes darker and Asmo puts a hand on his shoulder. Asmo almost shivered at the expression that faced him that moment. But he gave his brother a look asking him to calm down. Lucifer’s eyes were so unguarded that it was easy enough to slip a calming charm through him.

Easy but that charm was more exhausting than flying through the skies with Solomon’s added weight. Asmo clutches the foot of the bed while they watch Lucifer struggle to calm down.

When he’s back to a human form, Asmo can see that the blood stains on his gloveless fingers have crusted. Lucifer hasn’t let Justine out of his sight since he came here.

“Lucifer,” Asmo’s brother looks at him while Solomon watches from a safe distance, “I’m here. I’m not gonna let anything happen to Justine. Take a break.” Asmo reaches out to his brother, and finds Lucifer reacting to his touch in a way that he wouldn’t if he wasn’t so damn tired, Lucifer leans in.

“Besides, Justine wouldn’t be able to recognize you if she wakes up with you looking like that,” Asmo adds with a teasing smile.

Lucifer sighs and grabs his gloves from the table. He spares a longing look at Justine before making his way to the bathroom connected to the room.

“I’ve placed a silence spell on the room. He wouldn’t be able to hear us until he enters the room.” Solomon looks at Asmo expectantly. “What happened?”

Asmo sits down on the bed before answering, “You already know, why bother asking?”

“Justine has been in an accident of sorts,” Solomon pauses, “and the Devildom King is dead,” Solomon says with finality.

“Yes.” Asmo answers quietly. He runs soft fingers through Justine’s hair, combing the dark strands softly. She still looks beautiful even at this state.

“How is the gatekeeper holding up?” Solomon asks.

“The usual,” Asmo sighs, “by handling everything on his own.” 

Solomon huffs. “I thought, you had that figured out. At least that’s what Justine told me.”

“We did, but Lucifer’s the embodiment of Pride. What else do you expect? As soon as a real threat presents itself, he becomes overbearing.” 

Asmo finds the missing black diamond on a chain around Justine’s neck. It has been giving off small increments of magical energy. The energy tangling with her own life force, caressing her soul while helping her body repair itself.

That’s when Asmo notices Justine’s soul. Among all seven brothers, he’s the only one with the ability to see the souls of living beings. The rest would have to see them through the mirror of clarity, a special artifact somewhere in the basement of the House of Lamentation.

Justine’s soul was always a bright white. But this time, there was another soul beside hers. It was a black soul with a bluish hue. One of seven souls Asmo knows by heart.

The darkness of Lucifer’s soul only enhances the brightness of Justine’s. The contrast is a beauty in Asmo’s eyes.

“What do you see?” Solomon suddenly whispers.

“The most beautiful thing in existence,” Asmo says tears pooling in his eyes. The bastard actually cemented his place in their human’s heart. He’s kind of jealous but he’s more overwhelmed by joy.

“Let me see through your eyes,” Solomon asks.

Asmo was about to give a snarky retort when he looks at Solomon with the vision on. There was the reflection of a violet-orange soul beside Solomon’s grey one. 

Why hasn’t he seen that before? Maybe he was too clouded by himself that he failed to see what’s important to others. Asmo has Justine to thank for this clarity. Asmo nods once to Solomon and urges him towards them.

Asmo watches Solomon’s eyes brighten up.

“The reflection of another’s soul,” Solomon breathes out, “I’ve never actually seen it before.”

“The triggers are different for each couple. But once it happens their lover’s soul is reflected beside them, securing its place in their heart forever.” Asmo looks at Solomon. “So, what’s yours? I forgot how much I used to love love stories.”

For once Solomon looked taken aback, his mouth has opened but no words came out.

Then, they heard the bathroom door open and close. Lucifer emerges. His black hair is pushed back, and he looks like he doused himself in water a few times while in there. 

“I’m going to find who did this to Justine and make them pay,” he announces. His gloves have been washed and he’s currently patting them against the back of his hand, trying to dry them faster.

“I’m coming with you,” Solomon says.

“You are not.” Lucifer says, dark aura seeping around him. His hands stop their motion.

“Oh, c’mon Lucifer. Stop being salty.” Solomon says with an emphasis on the slang. A word Asmo has only ever heard from Levi.

Lucifer only glares harder. Asmo notices the wet gloves in his hands have suddenly dried.

“Of course I am,” Solomon says with another one of his shit-eating grins. “Your lack of knowledge in memes tells me that you haven’t been up here enough times to be familiar with how stuff operates. Besides, something tells me that Diavolo won’t like his right-hand man to make someone disappear into thin air. He’s still into that three realms co-existing thing, right?”

Lucifer sighs yet again and looks at Justine and Asmo still on the bed.

“I can vouch for him,” Asmo says giving his brother his most innocent smile.

“How do I know that you are not saying that because of your pact?” Lucifer interrogates.

Solomon raises the hem of his shirt. Just enough for Lucifer to see that Asmo’s pact mark is currently inactive.

Lucifer uses his index and thumb to massage his temples for a moment before he addresses Solomon, “Alright, but you yield to my orders or I will not be accountable to what I do to you.”

“Of course,” Solomon replies seemingly pleased with himself.

Asmo watches Solomon give the nurse at the reception his contact details and quickly explains that he will be going out with the husband of the patient. He introduces Asmo as Justine’s brother-in-law before following Lucifer to the elevator.

After watching Solomon and his brother leave, Asmo sits down on a chair on Justine’s right side and holds her hand tightly.  


* * *

  
Asmo wakes when he feels something wrong. 

Justine’s breathing is getting slower.

He calls in the nurse. The moment the doctor and nurses arrive, her monitor has started beeping.

Justine has stopped breathing. They’re going to need to insert a tube in her throat to facilitate breathing, a nurse tries to explain the procedures to him as soon as the doctor maneuvers around her bedside.

In the middle of the process, her monitor beeps again and this time it’s because her heart has stopped. 

Asmo falls on his knees. No breathing, no pulse. She’s practically dead, Asmo can feel their pact tearing just by being there to witness it. 

Asmo keeps clawing at his right thigh, where his pact mark lays on Justine. The area is practically burning hot right now, but he wants to feel the pain. The pain means she still has a chance of living.

Then, it’s as if time stops. A burst of dark blue energy surrounds Justine. Asmo stands up again to investigate. The center of the energy is on the black diamond on her chest.

The doctor keeps on pumping on her chest, and soon they hear a weak heartbeat. Lucifer has left his own life support on their human. But the doctor, still decides on putting her on life support. Her heartbeat is too weak to keep up on its own.

The doctor calls for the nurse beside Asmo. Asmo notices the nurse shaken, probably still wandering what the heck happened there. The nurse must have some magical ability for him to see that.

Justine’s doctor asks the nurse to call a different kind of specialist. But, before the nurse could leave Asmo’s sight, he charms the nurse into forgetting that explosion of magic. The nurse shakes his head once and looks immediately a lot less shaken.

Asmo surveys the other medical staff. None of them look like they’ve seen anything out of the ordinary. The door is closed, and there seems to be no souls aimlessly wandering the floor. Their secret is safe for now. 

But if this is going to happen again then, Justine is better off healing in the Devildom.

He feels vibration on his pants pocket. His DDD just rang, a message from Mammon.

_Text us when you can._

A simple message, but the fact that he got it means that the lines of the DDD have been reconnected.

He calls Solomon.

“Nice timing, Asmodeus.” Solomon greets. Asmo can hear him breathing heavily on the microphone.

"Something is wrong with Justine, she’s on life support right now," Asmo says.

“You mean she’s still alive?” there was disbelief in Solomon’s tone that just pissed Asmo off.

“Of course, she is! Lucifer’s pendant saved her before she actually went brain dead!” Asmo exclaims, cupping his mouth to the receiver of his DDD.

“We’ve been told she died,” Solomon says.

“What?” 

“The doctor called and told us her breathing and heart stopped and that they were not able to resuscitate her,” Solomon explains.

“Well, that’s not possible cause her doctor was with me ‘till literally a second ago.” Asmo replies.

Can the hospital have made a mistake?

Solomon pauses. Then, he says, “We also found the knife that stabbed her. If my hunch is correct, she has been poisoned by tetrodotoxin, the toxin on pufferfishes.”

“That’s the one in fugu, right?” Asmo can think about the hospital mishap later, Justine’s recovery is top priority. “There is an antidote for that in the Devildom, we need to bring her there. I need to talk to Lucifer, give him the phone. He left his DDD at the house.”

“I can’t exactly do that.” Solomon says. He sounds sheepish. Why is he sheepish?

“Why not?” This night is grating, and not in a good way.

“I just lost your brother.”

“What?!”


	5. This plan is too risky but it is the only one we got

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When backed into a corner, all you can do is fight. Not like there’s anywhere else to run.

Belphegor has always been a light sleeper, not to mention a night owl. The slightest steps and he’s aroused from his slumber.

After Lucifer disappeared, he was put to sleep by Asmo and from there he vaguely remembered his twin’s arms carrying him to a proper bed. He was stirred awake by the sound of their bedroom door closing.

He tried going back to sleep. The pain has disappeared, and probably so is the wound. He procrastinates checking. Thoughts of Justine bleeding out somewhere, in pain, the possibility of never seeing her again, kept haunting him. It was impossible to rest. He walked around the house. The light was still on in the library and Levi’s room was blaring some obnoxious tune.

Why does it only take a second for things to change? Why does one moment have so much effect on the future? They were just talking with her this morning. They had tried the video call option on their DDD. It was like she was there eating breakfast with them. He was looking forward to having more conversations with her.

Belphie finds himself walking towards Justine’s room. Anything, to keep him from missing her.

He hears voices talking, Mammon and Asmo. He feels his twin also in the room with them. The fact that he is radiating calm and the hushed tones inside makes him slip into a sitting position just outside the room. Maybe later, he doesn’t have the heart to intrude on the somberness of the room. The serenity calms him down. He might have nodded off by Justine’s door.

Until, he hears Asmo muttering a curse word. Then, Mammon speaks. “Do what you have to do,” he reassures Asmo, but even as Asmo disappeared he continues, “We’ll take care of things here.”

Belphie peeks inside. Mammon holds on to Beel’s head as he stands up and places a pillow in lieu of his lap. Then, he sees Belphie at the doorway.

He looks surprised, when hasn’t he? But he was careful not to wake Beel.

“Whattaya looking at?” Mammon asks.

Belphie steps in, kind of weirded out to be spotted lurking around. He doesn’t answer, just enters the room to sit on the bed. Basking in Justine’s essence in the room. Trinkets she left from the last time she was here and the smell of her perfume still permeating the room.

Mammon looks like he’s about to go out, but he asks a different question to Belphie, “Do you know where Satan is?”

Belphie is taken aback, Mammon continues speaking, “I need to talk to him ‘bout somethin’.”

“The library lights are still on,” Belphie replies. He’s being vague just in case he’s wrong.

“Ok,” Mammon acknowledge, making his way out of the room.

Belphie was following Mammon down the hallway when he turns around to face him.

“Wait, where are you going?” Mammon asks.

“With you,” Belphie replies. Mammon is up to something, that much Belphie knows. And maybe this time he should take interest.

“Alright.”

Mammon looks like he’s reluctant to have him follow but makes no move to shoo him away. Not like he’ll be able to, Belphie is just as stubborn as the rest of them.

They step inside the library to find Satan in a sea of books. Some of them are on the floor opened to some page, while some are floating in the air around him. A pot of tea lay forgotten somewhere on the table.

“What are you searchin’ on?” Mammon asks.

“How to find a way to the human realm,” Satan answers. “What are you both doing here?”

“To talk to you,” Mammon replies.

“Why?” Satan asks. Belphie doesn’t speak but continues to watch the interaction between the two.

“Asmo has been called. Might be Lucifer pulling the strings on that one.” 

“Are you sure?” Satan says. “He’s not one to ask for help,” 

“As much as I prefer he call me instead, since my human is involved, there must be a reason he had to call one of us.”

“Did he really need Asmo or he just need one of us?” Belphie interjects.

“That’s another one. But other than the pact with Justine, only Mammon and Asmo have active pacts. And between the two of them, Solomon would be easier to handle if he did ask for a favor.” Satan says.

“Would he actually call for Solomon though?” Belphie thinks out loud. Justine may trust Solomon, but Lucifer doesn’t. If Justine’s vulnerable, he wouldn’t let him near her at all.

“Well, I find it hard to believe he’d deliberately leave you here in the Devildom,” Satan says motioning to Mammon. 

“Hey!” Mammon exclaims offended, but Belphie notes that Mammon seems to understand why.

So, maybe Lucifer did need Asmo specifically.

“Asmo would be able to charm large numbers of people if ever they need to keep things a secret,” Satan says.

“Why would they need that? If only Justine has been injured?” Belphie questions.

“Because at this point, there’s nothing stopping Lucifer from doing anything to save or avenge her,” Mammon answers. 

There are several reasons why Asmo is a better pick for the job than Mammon. But something feels off, a piece they are missing. After all, despite everything, Mammon was the one Lucifer assigned as Justine’s guardian in the first place; Mammon is the default protector of Justine. Lucifer has always been consistent in his decisions.

So why change now?

There was a pregnant pause in the room until Mammon sighs and continues talking with a resigned tone. “There is high chance Lucifer is going to lose control of the chaos tonight.”

Belphie and Satan look at him in confusion and disbelief.

But maybe that was the answer to that, maybe Lucifer did factor in that Mammon would know how he would react better than anyone. Or maybe it was unintentional? Belphie sighs, their eldest brother is already hard to grasp most of the time. The situation isn’t helping matters.

Mammon stands up abruptly, flailing his arms around. “C’mon! I’ve been looking after the guy for days and the only thing I got was that if something bad happens to Justine, he’s good as gone.”

“You should have said that from the start!” Satan shouts back. An angry aura seeping from his body.

Mammon stands down, not of fear but of weariness. “Well, I never actually thought anything would happen to Justine.”

And honestly, Belphie felt the same. All of them thought that the human realm was safer for Justine, really, they did. And there were always the pacts to call unto if every anything bad happened on her trips to the Devildom.

They never thought...

“So, what do we do now?” Belphie heard Satan ask after calming down.

“That’s why I wanted to talk to ya. We need a brain like Lucifer’s.” Mammon says to Satan. A grin on his face as he faces the fourth born.

Belphie heard Satan muttering, “I’m going to let that slide this time.”

Belphie brings their attention back to a main problem, “But we don’t even know what’s going in the human realm. How do we go about this?”

“We do have something to go on,” Satan says, “Belphie, how’s your wound?”

“It’s fine. Why?” He’s aware that that was their last contact with Justine, but he doesn’t understand how this helps when it’s gone.

“No,” Satan points to his abdomen. “It’s been glowing the whole time.” 

“But” Belphie starts but looking at his side halted his train of thought. There was dim glowing beneath his shirt, almost hidden by the thickness of his sweater. He pulls his shirt upward and notices that the wound is still indeed there.

“It’s not painful,” Belphie states as he looks at his older brothers for answers. Justine is his first pact. After the war, he never had any contact with humans to make a pact with. This has never happened to him before.

“Probably because Justine’s not feeling anything either. But the glowing means she’s still in danger,” Mammon says.

“She’s probably anesthetized, that’s why Belphie isn’t feeling anything. Which checks in because Lucifer would have brought her to a hospital right away. So why is she still in danger if she’s in a place that can cure her?” Satan says, deep in thought.

The answer clicks in Belphie’s head, “It’s because they can’t.”

Satan’s eyes widen at the implications of that statement, “There must be something in the weapon used to stab her that human medicine can’t cure or detect.”

“Damn it!” Mammon exclaims, “She would have been better here in the Devildom.”  


* * *

  
The three of them were going through the books in the library looking for anything that can help. Mammon already sent a text to Asmo earlier and he hopes the lines open soon. They’ve pushed some of the books Satan was reading earlier, there was no time to put them back in place. And more than half the volumes on teleportation are off the shelves. 

Belphie tried looking on the internet for answers. But none have actually really tried bringing a human to the Devildom and the last time the portals closed due to a king dying was before the time of the internet.

“What the heck is happening here?” Levi exclaims garnering everyone’s attention.

Levi is on the doorway to the library. Beel stands behind him holding his phone outward. 

“We need to get Justine in the Devildom,” Beel announces, “I’ve got Asmo on the phone.”

“How’s Justine?” Mammon asks immediately head popping from his tower of books.

“Alive but poisoned,” Asmo says, “Tetrodotoxin.”

“The one found in pufferfishes?” Belphie asks as he noticed his twin’s suddenly growling stomach.

Satan and Belphie shared a look. Unfortunately, they were right. Humans still haven’t found a cure for that one.

“Yeah, Solomon confirmed it.” Asmo says through the phone.

“The ‘Witches’ Brew’ has an antidote for that,” Beel says.

“How’s Lucifer?” Mammon asks tentatively.

Belphie watches Levi’s shoulders slump and feels his twin’s appetite disappear.

“He gave in,” Asmo starts, “Solomon says he lost control when the hospital mistakenly called them that Justine is dead.”

That’s all it took to bring him down? All the floating books dropped down to the floor. Satan has slumped to the floor as well, head hidden between his knees.

Asmo continues speaking, “It happened after they caught the guy that stabbed Justine. The guy was already with the police when the hospital called. Solomon doesn’t think the guy is ever going to sleep again after Lucifer was done with him. Then, he took off. We don’t know where he is now.” 

Good for him, Belphie thinks, but Mammon was right. His grip on the tome in his hand tightens. First, Justine now Lucifer. It really feels like someone is trying to break their family apart. Is this revenge? Haven’t they suffered enough?

“There it goes,” Mammon says head lolling forward, “And what’s the first thing he’ll do when he sets foot in the Devildom?” He lets the question hang in the air and stares at the ceiling. “My bet’s on killing Lord Diavolo.”

Belphie’s tired, he wants to go to sleep. But they need all hands on board for this. And Belphie will be damned if he doesn’t do anything when he can. Justine and Lucifer are relying on them right now.

Asmo’s voice is quivering as he reiterates what they needed to do, “We need to bring Justine to the Devildom. We can take care of her there.”

“Whattya think we’re doing?” Mammon says as he tries to go back to the book he was reading, Belphie sees his hands shaking.

“Can we summon a human to the Devildom?” Levi throws the suggestion out.

“You can, but they have to be magical in the first place or dead,” Satan says from his position on the floor. He hasn’t moved yet.

“Her magic is still dormant and the second is not an option,” Beelzebub says, a chilling tone that Belphegor hasn’t heard in a long, long while.

“Let’s think of a way around,” Mammon says after a long silence, “Can we possibly wake a human’s dormant magic?”

“No,” Belphie says garnering the attention of the room. “For that to happen there must be some sort of life-changing enlightenment. A self-discovery she needs to accomplish while actually conscious.” 

“And we need a way to pinpoint her magical aura, something the caster needs personal experience to and not just said through a phone call,” Belphie continues. “Even if she does manage to awaken her own magic, we won’t be able to make a print out of it to summon her here.”

It was a while before anybody adds to that, it seems impossible for any of those conditions to be fulfilled given Justine’s state right now.

“What if she is temporary magical?” Asmo says on the phone. “Lucifer left the diamond with her. It’s been releasing magical energy to help her heal. That makes her magical, right?”

“It’s not just magical aura. You know, to summon a demon, you need to know the magical energy, soul, and body.” Mammon says. It’s easy to forget when they aren’t the ones doing the summoning.

“The diamond is only one out of three conditions, and for that to work the other two conditions must also be Lucifer’s.” says Satan.

“But what if, Lucifer’s soul and body is in her?” Asmo answers.

There was a loud, “What?” from Mammon. It was silence for the rest of the brothers. Asmo falls silent on the phone, Belphie wonders if the line disconnected or he’s still there.

“How?” Levi whispers, but it was enough to break the silence.

“They’ve bonded. I can see Lucifer’s soul reflected beside hers.” Asmo answers.

“Okay? That’s two out of three, but how about...” Mammon feels embarrassed finishing that question. “Don’t tell me--”

Asmo cuts him off with a dry chuckle and says, “The nurses say Lucifer was the one who gave her blood.” 

“That’s three out of three conditions. We can actually bring her here,” Satan announces finally lifting his head and picking a tome from the floor beside Belphie.

“But there’s a problem,” Belphie just loves to be the reminder of bad news tonight, “We do that summoning and we also call in Lucifer, too.”

“That’s a problem because?” Mammon asks credulously. He’s bouncing with excitement.

“Idiot!” Levi shouts. “You’ve said it yourself, if he’s lost to the chaos, then the first thing he’ll do is kill Diavolo.”

That was enough to put a damper on anyone. “Right,” Mammon confirms.

“Maybe there’s another way?” Beel says. Belphie can feel his twin trying to be optimistic, he admires that about Beel. But there’s only so much hope you can carry in situations like this.

“Maybe,” Mammon says out lout, “but we’re losing time, that diamond’s gonna run out of juice.”

A decision has to be made and somebody needs to pitch it.

“Let’s do this,” Belphie says, hands fisted at his sides.

“Are you seriously putting Justine before all three realms?” Satan says throwing a disbelieving look at Belphie.

“Why are you not?” Belphie starts. All the realms could go to damnation if it meant saving his family. “I don’t really care what happens to the rest of the realms as long as Justine survives this.”

Belphie feels his whole body shaking. The willingness to destroy the human realm was back. The same anger he felt when Diavolo first proposed the exchange student program. Belphie realizes he’s ready to sacrifice anything for this one human. 

Then, Belphie feels Beel pulling him closer, large hands carding through his hair. “We can’t lose her, this can’t be happening to us again,” Belphie mutters in Beel’s chest.

“She’s not Lilith,” Satan admonishes. There is a warning look in his teal eyes.

Belphie wants to say a few more words to Captain Obvious, but Beel beats him to it and gives a peaceful answer, “We know, but we can’t lose another sister.”

“So, we are doing this?” Asmo says from the phone. He’s impatient, they’re running out of time. The diamond is only an item that stores Lucifer’s magic. If that magic runs out, this plan will no longer work.

Belphie looks up at his twin and he finds Beel’s eyes meeting Mammon’s.

Belphie hears Mammon let out a breath before the second eldest announces, “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.”  


* * *

  
“This is insane,” Levi says, “I feel like I’m in an episode of ‘Seven Vampires accidentally adopted a human but she has been kidnapped by werewolves and is about to be sacrificed to the blood moon’.”

Belphie would have been annoyed at Levi’s muttering right now. But he has seen a few episodes of that anime when he happened to barge in Levi and Justine’s binge-watching sessions. And despite sleeping through three-quarters of the whole series, he kind of agrees to Levi’s assessment of what they are doing right now.

Levi is currently submerged in his aquarium accumulating enough magic to do what needs to be done. Belphie has already tried helping by transferring energy from his pillow to the water. It seemed to have had the desired effect, if the faint glowing is any indication.

One of them should have ran to the store to get the antidote already. This late at night they might just be banging on a door with a “Closed” sign on it. But only Satan and Asmo will be able to talk the owner into opening it again and those two are otherwise occupied.

They need to summon Justine first before they attempt pulling Asmo back to the Devildom. If they fail to summon Justine, then at least they can be sure one of them will be with her.

Levi says an incantation, a steady and lower voice than his usual. His eyes light up for a second before it dims down. The water starts moving in two directions, creating waves within the tank.

Tides of water keep moving in constricted cylinders, weaving in itself to form a large serpent. It’s presence only seen by the movement of the water and its disturbance on the plant life and sand in the aquarium. It circles the tanks as if familiarizing itself with its surroundings until Leviathan reaches an arm out to it, beckoning it to him. 

The water serpent rests his head on Levi’s hand, and follows Levi up the surface. When the snake breaks the surface, Belphie could still see the water swirling to form its features. And this time, he could make out orange eyes staring back at the third eldest.

“Pass me the grimoire,” Levi says, an echo in his voice and a lisp somewhere in his pronunciation.

Mammon holds the book out to him, stepping up the ladder to reach the top of the aquarium better. 

Levi just stares at the grimoire, but the water serpent slithers past his hand and follows his master’s gaze. The water holds its form as the whole serpent slides down the side of the tank to reach the grimoire.

The serpent stares at the skull design on the grimoire. Then, the eyes on the skull light up, a mixture of sky blue, yellow and a tint of red. The serpent’s eyes reflect this same light and returns to Levi, wrapping its body on the demon’s.

“We’re ready,” Levi says again.

Then, everybody gets to work. Beel opens a portal to the courtyard of RAD. Satan grabs the grimoire from Mammon and they both step into the portal. Belphie follows but keeps close to the portal. 

The courtyard is empty, a few light bulbs are kept on. The full moon illuminates where the artificial lights can’t reach. There are no winds and there is a sense of mystical tranquility in the air. Satan opens the grimoire and finds his target page easily. Mammon transforms and stands guard by the portal, careful not to block it completely.

Belphie dials Asmo’s number. He really hopes this will work. They don’t have a plan B.

“We’re good on our end,” Belphie says as soon as he hears Asmo pick up.

“She’s ready to go,” Asmo confirms. 

Belphie nods to Satan and Levi through the portal.

Levi and Satan recite the same incantation, voices resounding off each other. Belphie can feel the winds whirling in the empty courtyard and hear the waters splashing on the edge of the large, aquarium. 

Identical pentagrams appear on the ground in front of Satan an on the area immediately in front of Levi. He thinks he heard glass cracking in Levi’s room. Wind and water move faster, harder until it reaches a climax.

In the torrent of winds, Belphie watches as Lucifer appears in the center of Satan’s pentagram. He is in his full demon form, wings darker even against the Devildom night sky. His wings open and flaps wildly, urging the winds to roar faster. Tendrils of pure black energy dance along his frame. 

His ruby eyes have been replaced by a dark void. The expanse of black freezes Belphie on his spot.

The sound of glass cracking garners the attention of everyone on the courtyard. Their heads whip around to find that the aquarium in Levi’s room has shattered. Water has reached over the portal.

Belphie turns back to Lucifer and finds a grin on his brother’s face. Lucifer takes slow steps towards the portal. Beel is staring at Lucifer’s nearing form, transfixed at the site.

This can’t be good.

Belphie fights through his and his twin’s emotions and dives through the portal. He grabs Beel by the shoulders and shakes him hard. The water from the aquarium soaks his shoes and the smell of saltwater stings his eyes.

“Close it now!” Belphie screams at Beel.

Beel finally shakes awake and reaches an open hand out. He closes his fist and the portal closes. But it was not fast enough for them to not hear the shouts of Mammon and Satan along with the howling of the wind.

“Will they be okay?” Beel asks. His eyes are glued to the wall where the portal once stood.

Belphie doesn’t know, and he can’t even bring himself to lie.

A whimper catches their attention. They look for the source of the sound.

Justine lies in Levi’s arms. The water serpent curled around both of their bodies, retaining its form despite being almost completely out of the water. It’s eyes still glowed the same light as the skull’s eyes.

“Asmo should have already called the incubus in charge of the store. Take her and go.” Levi says, but his grip on Justine is tight. Justine is in a hospital gown, but the fact that the pentagram was under water meant she also manifested inside the aquarium. Her clothes press to her body and Belphie could see the outline of the bandages wrapped around her abdomen. Blood is starting to seep through. 

The serpent gives way as Belphie approaches the two. His sigil glows on his pillow again as he tries to transfer whatever energy is left into Justine. They feel Lucifer’s energy diminish as the diamond stops.

“Will you be following us?” Beel asks. He reaches out a hand, and a portal opens beside him. This time the portal shows the galaxy.

“After I summon Asmodeus, now go. Once Justine consumes that energy, the diamond will restart releasing Lucifer’s energy.” Levi answers, pushing Justine into the portal Beel opened.

Beel closes the portal the same way he closed the one leading to the RAD courtyard. But after he closed his fist, Beel planted the same hand on his stomach where his insignia appeared on the skin. 

Justine is now in the infinite space of Beel’s stomach. They have a limited time before the diamond starts releasing energy again. Easily trackable by Lucifer.

Belphie hears Levi repeat the spell as they run out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Were they OOC uhmmmm, sori?
> 
> Confused? Hahahaha Same...Kidding :P  
> Anyways, one of my past times is assigning a power to fantasy people in a group. Turns out the seven demon brothers are not safe from my overactive imagination. I’ve spent some artistic liberties in giving them specialized abilities they’ll be using in this fic.  
> Some are based on something, but really nada  
> So far their abilities in this particular fanfiction are:  
> (1) Lucy - canonically, he has a high aptitude for magic. Among the characters of obey me! only Diavolo might be stronger than him. In this fic, he's also "the gatekeeper of chaos", more explanation in succeeding chapters, hopefully the next one clears stuff up  
> (2) Special Mammon - he can sense, up to a numerical level, the probability of events coming to place. This is not the same as divination where the visions are 100% accurate. He can only tell how possible a certain event or chain of events will happen. He’ll be exhausting this ability later. Given this ability, he should be good gambler, right? Well, he already explained to Asmo why he’s not.  
> (3) Levichan - He can create monsters with just his imagination, sea creatures are his specialty. The grimoire is a soul and water is an element that can be conformed to any shape. The water serpent is basically copying the soul of the grimoire creating a copy of the grimoire. This is what he uses to summon Justine and Asmo while Satan holds the actual book.  
> (4) Cat-lover Stn - hmmm, he has an affinity for spells because he loves to read, but he has an actual ability that he has yet to discover *winks  
> (5) Asmobaby - I’ve always been part of the “before all this lust stuff, Asmo was actually attuned to love” club. So other than his more powerful charms, which to an extent works on all of his brothers, he can see souls and who those souls are tied to. Now, who do you think Solomon’s soul is tied to? Hehehehe  
> (6) BigBabyBeel - Basically, space. He can reduce space, allowing him to create a doorway/portal to another location. And he can expand space by creating a pocket dimension and storing that dimension in his stomach. I’m going to headcanon that the reason he’s always hungry is he accidentally opens a pocket dimension inside his stomach and loses the key. In this story, he’ll be able to call back the pocket dimension Justine is in using the insignia currently embedded in his abdomen.  
> (7) SleepyBelphie - If Beel is space, Belphie is energy. When he sleeps, any energy he generates but isn't using is stored in his pillow. So far, he used them to have more energy to transfer to Justine when she was stabbed, power-up Levi’s waters, and spare energy to heal Justine so the black diamond left by Lucifer doesn’t release energy for a while.  
> Whooo. that looked longer than the chapter itself, but it’s there in case anybody’s confused by the brothers’ extra abilities in this fic.


	6. To know and to do something about it are two different things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a being as old as Barbatos, there are some things he wishes to have never seen.

The creator made the world from chaos. He picked up the pieces in the vastness of the void and molded them together to create light.

And that was how everything started.

But as the humans discovered much much later, the universe has a penchant for a state of disorder.

And after the creation of life, the void started manifesting itself into his creations. Demons were born by chaos weaving itself into the careful order of life. More powerful than humans but less powerful than the celestial beings. Their main purpose was to wreak havoc upon all creation.

It would take millennia of fighting before one demon presented a truce to the creator. He would make sure that the demons would stay in line, he only asks for a realm to call home. This was how the Devildom was founded and that demon would then become the first Demon King, Lord Diavolo’s ancestor.

But as the number of demons grew, there needed to be a valve, a gate, to keep the chaos from seeping into creation and bearing more demons. The celestial beings were afraid that the demons were only bidding their time to overthrow the creator.

This was the reason Lucifer was made. The light bringer to stop the darkness of chaos from spreading. As time passed, his brothers were created to help him in this mission.

All was well. Everything in control.

Until that faithless day when war broke out in the Celestial realm.

Well, you know how the rest of the story goes...  


* * *

  
Barbatos closed the book in his hands and let out a sigh. He always has a penchant for history and the story of the founding of the Devildom is his favorite till this day. But the narrative does not seem to have the same calming effect as always.

It would take 7 passages of time before Lord Diavolo could take the throne. Whether it be days, weeks, months, years or even decades is an answer he does not have. The last transition took 6 years.

Demons are not immortal and once Lord Diavolo takes the Devildom throne, his power will be put to the test. The best course of action is to keep the news of the King’s death until all his power is transferred to the heir. This will ensure that Lord Diavolo has enough power to defend his title.

Simeon and Luke were caught in the Devildom during the King’s death. After he prepared a room for the visiting angels, Simeon had asked to be shown to the library of the palace. He wanted to look for a book to kill the time. Barbatos had led him there and left him alone after picking up the history book.

He excused himself and retired to his room where he started reading but stopped due to the sheer amount of worries in his head. He could look into the future by using one of his doors, but it would be useless if he wouldn’t be able to control what would happen.

You see, the reason he needed Justine to go to the past was because having someone else enter the doors gives him control of which reality to take. He will not be able to do both at the same time. As such, it would be better to take things one step at a time and live in the present.

Besides, even if he were to change the past, destiny always has a way of getting what it wants. That’s just the way the cosmos works.

Barbatos was about to return the book he held to the library when he felt a powerful aura in the vicinity. But he probably wouldn’t have paid heed if he wasn’t near the balcony of the main ballroom.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have heard the threat that accompanied this familiar aura today.

There was nothing going on in the gardens of the Palace below. The only logical conclusion is to look up.

And what a sight it was.

Lucifer suspended in midair, holding on to Satan by the neck. The older demon’s wings were beating rapidly, Barbatos could almost see the wind bent to its will. Satan was clutching at the hand against his throat, while tightly holding onto an item under his arm. Satan’s tail flails wildly behind him, curling and uncurling around his legs. He could see their lips moving, but the roar of the wind kept any sound from reaching him.

Cautious as he is, he didn’t want to interfere. The relationship between the first and fourth eldest brother was something he does not wish to intrude upon, lest he makes it worse. Only Justine has ever tried and succeeded mending it.

But the way Lucifer’s hold is tightening on Satan’s neck, leaves him rooted to the spot. There is still a truth he has failed to see. Only when he starts to feel Satan’s life force draining from him did he dare make his presence known.

He tries shouting, but it doesn’t work. Another approach, he gathers his energy in the palm of his hand. Just enough to form a teal, tennis ball-sized light to shoot at the two demons in the sky.

From what Barbatos could see the projectile had nicked a feather of off Lucifer’s wings, but it was not enough to garner his attention.

The situation was getting dire, Satan’s tail has stopped moving and now falls limply behind him. Lucifer is still squeezing.

Barbatos gathers another ball of energy and this time the projectile flies between the two of them.

Lucifer finally notices Barbatos and looks down. That’s when he saw the changes, Lucifer’s eyes were black, no other features. It’s as if his eyes were gouged out and replaced with obsidian spheres. It was taunting but emotionless.

Lucifer grins at him and let’s go of his brother mid-air.

Barbatos barely register’s Satan’s body hitting the garden below with the way his heart is thundering in his chest. Lucifer then lands directly in front of him.

It wasn’t just his eyes that changed. No other features are discernible in his wings either. There are tendrils of darkness curling around his whole body, a far cry from the smokey manifestation of his aura when he’s angry. But this isn’t an intense emotion Barbatos is seeing from the eldest of the brothers.

It is madness.

The biggest threat that comes with the death of the Devildom King is staring at him as of this moment. The shift in balance in the realms has allowed the gatekeeper to lose control. The void of chaos has taken over the mind of the fallen angel.

Yet, he still must be somewhere in there. Barbatos deeply believes in that.

“Lucifer, dare I say, Lord Diavolo wouldn’t agree to such a display in front of his home. Nor would Justine appreciate to your treatment of—”

Lucifer simply cuts him off, “Why would it matter when Justine is dead?”

“Dead?” Barbatos says. It can’t be. None of the brothers would let harm come to the human even if she is a realm away. Justine wasn’t supposed to die. “Simply not true.”

The laughter Lucifer lets out is humorless, “I hoped so, but really anything is possible.”

“Lord Diavolo—” Barbatos stutters out.

“Whatever he thinks is irrelevant, because soon he, too, will be gone,” Lucifer warns.

“I cannot allow—” Lucifer lunges at him. Barbatos is grabbed by the throat and then pushed down through the floor. He hears concrete and marble shatter around him,

Barbatos lands in an empty room. He struggles to breath with broken ribs puncturing his lungs and dust saturating the air. He stands on shaking legs, the small chunks of debris have rendered his eyesight useless. It was easy enough to grasp a wall but harder to locate the exit.

Is there anywhere he can hide?

He plants his hand on the wall and let it guide him to the door. He stops when he reaches a corner.

Only because he heard a loud thud near him. He feels the air moving as powerful wings settle in a rested position. A burst of light tells him that the devil has transformed, powered down. Barbatos feels the hairs at the back of his neck stand rigid as the tap-tapping of footsteps grow louder.

When the taps stop, he feels the other demon near him, invading his space. Barbatos feels the tendrils of darkness licking his body like snakes slithering on his skin.

Can Lucifer see him shivering? He dares to hope not.

A hand lands on his shoulder, gentle at first. Then, the fingers closing will leave bruises for days to come. He can feel the weight of Lucifer as he crouches down to Barbatos height. His captor whispers, breath tickling in his ear.

“How about you tell me where your master is, and this will be a lot less painful?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahaha here is a plot hole explanation I don’t know where to fit in.  
> Would the demons know that the king is dead when the portals are closed? Well, if only Diavolo and Lucifer can use it, they can’t exactly confirm that. The DDD service failure can be choked up to maintenance or some other stuff, many excuses for that one.
> 
> This line,  
>  _“But as the humans discovered much much later, the universe has a penchant for a state of disorder.”_  
>  is actually talking about the second law of thermodynamics.


	7. How to defeat your demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fighting fire with fire was never efficient. And, air would feed the flames while water would drown the blaze. The question is: which one is Simeon?

Simeon detected the scent of blood the moment he left his room.

Earlier that day, Luke had tagged along with him on this visit to the Devildom. They entered using one of the portals accompanied by Lord Diavolo himself. Pleasantries were exchanged and Diavolo was about to discuss having a second wave of exchange students.

They were talking about how many more students could be added to the program and possibly varying the duration of the student’s stay, when Luke asked to be dismissed. Simeon smiled at the thought of Luke wanting to visit the brothers, despite the little angel’s constant denial. 

An hour later, Barbatos announced the death of the King.

They were waiting for it for some time now. Simeon has been one of the few angels that have been made aware. But still, the pain of losing a father was something Diavolo could not mask from him.

Simeon wonders if this meeting was made for the prince to redirect his mind rather than a sense of urgency.

Nevertheless, Prince Diavolo is in no shape to continue this discussion. Simeon excused himself to look for Luke and head home. However, automatic security measure closed all portals until the king could be crowned.

They could still pass through the nine circles of hell, but he isn’t sure Luke is ready to experience that. Nor is he ready for the questions Luke will be asking him.

“You could use one of the rooms in the palace. Barbatos can ready them for you,” Prince Diavolo had offered.

Simeon could only accept. Barbatos had prepared the room and lent him one of the books from the library.

It might take some time for Prince Diavolo to take the throne. In which case, Simeon is going to need to take Luke through the nine circles to return to the Celestial Realm.

Simeon tried to read. But as he finds his mind constantly jumping into future conversations with Luke about the Nine Circles, he closes the book and sends Luke a text.

Then, he heard a scream and a deep laughter from a voice he knows all too well. He tried to call Diavolo through the DDD, but the crown prince is not answering.

Which led him to this.

Simeon finds Barbatos hung upside down from the chandelier. His jacket off and the rest of his suit in disarray. His whole body is covered in blood, dripping in a pool below him. He looks like he has passed out.

Barbatos' torturer faced Simeon. Where red irises once were, now there is nothing. It was akin to looking at the eyes of an abandoned mask. Hollow and blank. There is a gruesome smile on his lips. Gone are his coat and vest; the sleeves of his black shirt have been folded to his elbows. His gloves hide the blood on his hands but not on the dinner knife he holds.

“Oh, an angel,” the torturer says, “Tell me, can you save him when you can’t even save yourself?”

There was a loaded calmness to Lucifer’s voice as he spoke.

“Lucifer,” Simeon says, breathing deeply and rethinking his words, “this isn’t you.”

“How do you know? Did you really know me?” Lucifer’s smile disappeared, replaced with a snarl as he pointed the bloody dinner knife to Simeon then back to Barbatos. “Barbatos can see the future, or so he says. How can he not see this happening? How can he not predict his own demise?”

Then, he plunged the knife deep into Barbatos. More blood gushed out of the wound, trailing off his face, then dripping to the ever-expanding pool on the floor. No visible reaction from Barbatos.

If he couldn’t feel Barbatos life force, then he’d believe the butler was dead. Simeon feels his stomach churn at the sight. But he steels himself, this isn’t Lucifer talking.

Lucifer hesitated the moment the knife sunk. Simeon believed he saw a bit of red in his eyes as he left the knife on Barbatos ribs.

Lucifer’s snarl deepens, eyebrows furrowing as if in deep pain. He transforms into his demon form.

Simeon shrugs off his outer cloak as he lets his white wings open behind him. An angel’s attack is at its most efficient against a demon, but this isn’t just any demon he’s about to fight.

This was a fallen angel who has waged a war against his creator and lived to tell the tale.

Simeon moves his arm back; the rest of his limbs fall back in a defensive position. The stance feels natural but foreign at the same time. Trained as he is with warfare, it has been a long time since he was in a fight.

Simeon isn’t looking forward to this.

A flick of his wrist and light shines from his hand. It forms a straight line extending past his hand and behind him. The light subsides to reveal a silver lance.

The lance was simple in design. Sleek and modest except for the engravings on the handle and blade. A metallic grapevine adorns the place where the handle and blade meet.

His plan was simple enough, save Barbatos and not get killed in the process. He cannot hope to defeat the eldest of the brothers without anything short of divine intervention.

Simeon was first to attack, he cannot let Lucifer think that he is not going on the full offensive. He just needs to find an opening to grab Barbatos and make a run for it.

They meet in midair. Lucifer has a weapon, a sword that followed him with his fall. But he isn’t summoning it right now. Instead, tendrils of darkness no wider than his thumb swirl around his palms. Making his fists as strong as Simeon’s lance.

They parry each other, Lucifer is still in the defensive. He has an unhinged grin on his face as he presses back against Simeon’s attacks.

He is bidding his time.

Simeon can’t find an opening. He tries to move faster, step backwards, then thrust forward but Lucifer matches his speed.

Until he doesn’t.

When they land, Lucifer was a split second faster than Simeon. And that was all it takes for him to secure a punch above the angel’s right eye.

A crunch was heard in the room as Simeon tries to ignore the pain. He was propelled backwards, and he plants his lance on the ground to stop the momentum. Then, he flaps his wings to push himself from the ground. A bruise is forming on his eye and he finds he can no longer open it.

The way Lucifer looks at him now is telling Simeon that the demon is just toying with him. He tries to swallow the anger that wants to wipe that smirk of his face and the fear that he might not make this out alive.

The demon saunters towards him. His voice resonates in the room.

“If he can really see the future, then he’d know Justine also died tonight.”

Simeon is stunned. That can’t be real. While most angels are not privy to the plans of the creator, Simeon can tell that the human still has couple more decades to her.

“There must be another explanation,” Simeon says, ”Justine-”

“Don’t you dare speak her name!” Lucifer shouts. “Weren’t you supposed to be a guardian angel?” the intensity in his dimensionless eyes freezes Simeon, “Did you not claim to be her friend?”

Simeon is tongue-tied. He was looking over her. Justine was like a little sister to him during their time at RAD, and distance didn’t change that. He just took his eyes off her for one night...

“I used to love white. It was the color of my wings and I was proud of them,” Lucifer paused reaching over Simeon’s shoulder to grab a fistful of the dirtied, white feathers. “Then, it was the color of her soul.”

“But now I hate it,” the demon says clenching his fingers tighter on the feathers, “it only reminds me of everything I’ve lost.”

Lucifer was close to Simeon back when they were angels. Simeon could always tell what he was feeling just by looking at his red eyes. After the fall, he saw that that didn’t change. In fact, his eyes became more expressive once Lucifer became close to Justine.

As Lucifer’s empty black eyes stared at him now, he couldn’t find a trace of the being he once called brother.

And that was what scared Simeon the most.

Simeon pushed himself further from the demon. He kicked his legs and flapped his wings. Lucifer managed to tear all the feathers in his fist while Simeon increased the distance between them.

It wasn’t enough because soon Simeon’s back hit the wall and there was no more space to maneuver. He grasped his lance defensively between them.

The demon in front of him chuckled.

“When I cut your wings, father would just grow them back. It’s as easy as that. But when they’re wounded,” Lucifer stretched his left palm outward, the black tendrils reaching out to grab Simeon’s weapon, “I’m sad to say they’re going to need to heal by themselves.”

When Lucifer tugged his hand back, the silver lance came back with it. The demon spins the lance in his hands once, twice then throws it at the angel.

There was no room to move. Simeon cried as he felt the lance pierce his abdomen and sever his spine. He can’t feel his legs. He tried pulling the lance from his body, but it was deeply embedded in the wall. The pain of jostling the lance only makes him light-headed.

“I’ll let you in on what Asmo felt when his feathers got seared off. Or when Mammon had to pluck his feathers off one by one just to feed his new sin. Beel’s had his torn at the joint then crushed flat.”

He can’t even move as he feels Lucifer approaching him, he dares not to look at him right now.

“What no words for me now? That’s alright, I’d rather just hear you scream.”

Lucifer breaks his wings from the base but doesn’t tear them off.

Simeon screams. In his head, he prays for forgiveness of his former brother. When he does look at Lucifer, the demon has knelt to the ground and wiped his hand on the floor, coating his hand with blood, his blood.

Lucifer presses the bloodied palm on Simeon’s broken wings leaving a ghastly mark on the once white feathers.

“How about we paint them red? Your blood looks like my favorite shade of crimson.”

Lucifer twists the lance holding him to the wall and Simeon screams once again. More blood gushes to the ground.

He knows his throat is going to be sore tonight.  


* * *

  
When Lucifer was satisfied with his work, even his innermost feathers are touched with red. He pulled the lance from the wall, and his body, and let the angel fall to the ground.

Simeon feels the demon’s aura weaken as he shifts to his humanoid form.

The sound of Lucifer’s footsteps was accompanied by the closing of the door. The room is thrown in darkness, not that his eyes are of any use right now. The blood and sweat has forced his unbruised eye shut. The silence only punctuates the ringing in his ears.

He supposes Lucifer could have done worse. For a moment there, he thought the demon was going to pluck all his feathers off one by one.

The only sense he can rely on now is his ability to discern another person’s aura, the energy emitted by a being's soul. Barbatos is still alive but Simeon can’t seem to reach him. He tries crawling but his limbs are not cooperating with him.

Simeon doesn’t know how long he just laid there swimming in his own blood.

Then, he sees light creeping in through his eyelids from what could only be the doorway. He can clearly feel the aura of the being running towards him.

“Lilith?”


	8. Even a chihuahua knows how to bark and bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what was the little angel up to all this time?

The road to the House of Lamentations was a long one.

Or at least it will really take time if one takes a detour to the marketplace to buy all sorts of baking supplies and try to barter with the demon seller on the prices of some of the ingredients.

So, yeah, it took a few hours for Luke to actually arrive at the house. And since it’s already late into the night, at least for Asmodeus’ standards, Simeon wouldn’t mind if Luke spends the night in the house. He types in a text message to the older angel and doesn’t wait for a reply.

If Lucifer’s feeling generous, he might allow the little angel to stay at Justine’s room. A long shot, but really Luke misses that human. Even if he will never admit it to anyone. Her room would have remnants of her aura littering it, her own signature in the abode of seven powerful demon brothers.

Luke finally reaches the House of Lamentations. The hallways are quiet, no signs of life but if he listens hard enough, he can hear commotion from a single area of the house. His hearing brings him to the library.

And though the chaos of the house isn’t really far from normal, there is something in the way the demon brothers are hustling that chills Luke to the bone. The fact that Mammon seems to be leading the fray is scaring the little angel. Usually, Lucifer leads the charge when an activity calls for all seven of them.

So, what’s a little angel got to do? I’ll tell you what.

He heads for the kitchen.

Why?

Because the three-headed cow lard is starting to melt, and he doesn’t want it to ruin the moss green flour in his shopping bag.

Besides, none of the brothers seem to have noticed him. He’ll only get lost in the sea of floating books and flying scrolls that is currently the library. His size only makes sure of that.

But don’t tell him I told you that, ‘kay?

While in there he fixes himself a light dinner, he hasn’t eaten since they left the Celestial realm this afternoon. He’s quite famished, but everything he cooks must be perfect, right?

Of course, he takes his time cooking. And maybe cleaning up after himself because angels aren’t supposed leave messes, not like demons. Definitely not like demons.

He wonders if the brothers are finished causing a ruckus in the library. The house became awfully quiet. Now that he thinks about it.

So, he starts walking. He has made a couple of blue silk cupcakes that he’s sure would entice one eternally hungry demon.

They’re no longer in the library.

The House is silent. it should be given this time of night, but given the hustle from earlier, they can’t all be asleep yet. Right?

Then, Luke heard glass breaking and the unmistakable sound of water splashing around.

He only knows of one room in the entire house that houses an enormous aquarium.

Unless the brothers decided to adopt a pet shark while he was up in the Celestial Realm

I mean, Luke doesn’t put them above that (I certainly don’t). But that seems a little too spontaneous, they’ve already got a large, three-headed dog.

Who feeds that dog anyway?

Wait, wait, wait. Back on track.

Luke scuttles (shhhh) his way to Levi’s room. He hopes the multitude of electrical sockets in that room stays untouched by the water. Wouldn’t want power outage or a fire to add to their worries.

Though, he is curious on how mad Lucifer can get at his brothers.

Luke isn’t scared of a measly, demon. (At least when his glare is not directed at him, he might just agree to being called a Chihuahua than a repeat of the basement incident.

The door has already opened and Luke tiptoes inside. He doesn’t seem to notice the wet footsteps exiting the door.

Inside is Leviathan, the demon of envy, in his demon form doubled over in front of a shattered aquarium. A few feet in front of him is Asmodeus, the demon of lust, on his hands and knees, breathing heavily with his head bowed. Around them is the water from the aquarium and the sand and other decorations inside. A couple dozen fishes were sloshing around in an inch of water. Henry swims quietly in his small aquarium.

It was Asmodeus who notices Luke first.

“Oh, hello, darling,” Asmo greets. “What brings you to the Devildom?” his voice is masked. Cheery but the haunting way the demon’s eyes look at the angel is kinda terrifying.

The kinda terrifying that tells you that the other person is trying to hide something more terrifying, cause there are some things they just don’t want you to know yet.

You get it, right?

Cause Luke feels that right now. But he’s not a kid, he’s an angel. And Simeon, not to mention Michael, would be disappointed in him if he doesn’t investigate this.

“What happened here?” Luke asks. He can feel energy, a lot of it in the room. Whatever these two did expended enough energy to leave them breathless.

“Nothing!” Leviathan exclaims, he’s still breathing heavily, his hands are propping him up by the knees.

“No!” Luke shouts, “it’s definitely not nothing. I need to tell Simeon.”

Before Luke was able to whip out his DDD, Asmodeus asks, “who else came with you?” then a bit later “Are they still here?”

“Only Simeon. He wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Leviathan and Asmodeus shared a look.

They’re keeping something BIG from him and he won’t be let out of the loop. No, sir!

Asmodeus was about to stand properly when Leviathan reaches out and grabs his arm.

“Don’t tell him,” Leviathan hissed.

“It’s better if he knows, he’s going to figure it out anyway.” Asmodeus’ tone is serious. His tone never gets serious.

Leviathan lets go of his brother’s arm and slumps down on the wet floor.

Asmodeus straightens out to his full height and walks towards the little angel. When he is directly in front of Luke, he goes down on one knee and holds him firmly by the shoulder.

Luke has never seen Asmodeus’ amber eyes like this. The yellow swirls for a bit before the demon shakes his head. There is a resigned grin on his face as he looks down. But when he looks at the little angel again, he’s pleading. 

“Justine is back, and she needs help.”  


* * *

  
Justine is not just any human, no sir, she ain’t. She’s a friend, a friend that saved the little angel’s life from a lot of pain. And for that Luke at least owes her a debt of gratitude.

He searches for the twins.

Asmodeus didn’t say much, Leviathan was a lot more mum about it. But Luke takes what he can get. He doubts Asmodeus was lying about Justine being in trouble. As much as demons cannot be trusted, the seven brothers are an exception when it comes to their favorite human.

He’s only been told to help keep Justine away from Lucifer.

So, Luke flies through the streets of Devildom as fast as his wings could carry him. He hopes he can reach the twins at the shop. He has been to the “Witch’s Brew” with Beel before.

When he reaches the shop, the whole street was silent.

Luke missed the twins. There is no way he came here earlier than them. He pulls his wings back in and sits under the shelter of a store. The little angel was about to cry.

Then, he felt a tight grip on his mouth and a pull to the ground.

The ground was further than he expected, and softer to booth.

Wait, why is he standing if he fell?

When he glanced up, he saw Beelzebub, the demon of gluttony. The giant demon looked terrified and relieved at the same time.

Luke was about to scold him, as was the usual, when a different hand reached out and closed his lips again. Belphegor, the demon of sloth, is angry.

“Lucifer knows you’re here,” Belphegor whispers.

“How?”

“You’re an angel,” Belphegor hisses out, “in the Devildom. You stand out like a sore thumb.”

“Oh.”

When the hand covering his mouth lets go, Luke regains the ability to move his head around.

“Where is Justine?”

“In my stomach,” Beel replies like that’s completely normal.

“Whaa...” Luke says in decreasing volume.

Before Beel tries to explain the process word for word, Belphegor beats him to an explanation or a lack thereof.

“Not now. We need to get her out of there to administer the antidote, but her presence is only going catch Lucifer’s attention.”

“Can one of us just go in there?” Luke suggests.

“Possibly,” Belphegor says, “but Lucifer already knows we’re in the vicinity. He’ll know if one of us suddenly disappears. I’m not sure we can take that risk.”

“No,” Beel deadpans.

Now, what?

“Where are we?” Luke says as he takes a more careful look around.

“The store owner immediately kicked us out when we got the antidote. We’re in a food court just a few blocks from Witch’s Brew.”

There should be two entrances Luke notes, the large ones for customers and one for employees.

“Where do you think Lucifer is?”

“On his way probably,” Belphegor answers, “we sensed you coming a mile away. No doubt Lucifer did, too.”

“So, why did you still pick me up?”

“You talk easy. We’re trying to keep the fact that Justine is in the Devildom. Worst case scenario, Lucifer kills Diavolo. He’ll think Justine is in the Human Realm and will go back there to search for her when she’s already here.”

“Are you sure that’s going to work?”

“No,” Belphegor runs a hand on his face, “it was Levi’s idea.” He pauses before adding, “I’m tired” as he takes a seat at a table and tucks his head on his arms.

Beel takes a seat beside Belphegor while Luke sits across from them. Luke tries to keep his presence to a minimum as he watches Beel fidget beside a snoozing Belphegor.

A while later, Beel scoots closer to Luke and holds his hand. His hands are warm.

“I wanted to get you out of there,” Beel says. “Knowing Lucifer, he already senses we’re here. I don’t think tagging you along makes a difference.”

Despite being twins, Belphegor and Beel are night and day. Don’t you think?

Luke certainly does.

Belphegor raises his head quickly scanning their surroundings before shaking Beel’s shoulder.

Then, the mood of the place changes. The food court only felt empty the first time he found himself there. But now it feels different. It feels like the shadows are watching, whispering for them to run. Silent but demanding.

“We need to go right now,” Belphegor exclaims.

Beel stands up, ready to make a run for it when an idea hits Luke.

“Wait...” Luke says.

“What?!” Belphegor snaps.

“I think there is something we can try.”  


* * *

  
_  
Luke remembers a time when he stayed at the House of Lamentations._

_He was baking a cake with Justine. Was it somebody’s birthday? He can’t exactly recall. All he remembers was that she wanted to try out a recipe from the Celestial Realm and Luke wanted to experiment with Devildom ingredients. The Purgatory Hall doesn’t have much equipment so the House of Lamentations it is._

_Once the cake was baked, layered, frosted, and chilled for a bit. They were ready to call in some taste testers._

_Justine was just about to pick up her DDD to see who else was in the house when Lucifer entered the room. It was like the eldest brother somehow sensed that the human needed him._

_After some usual questions and their usual answers, Justine took a fork and a plate and gave the first slice to Lucifer._

_Heavens, if Luke knew the first slice would go to a demon he would have added a little something (bitter, poisonous, definitely justified) to the cake but there is something in Justine’s countenance that makes him bite his tongue. And maybe he remembers not to raise Lucifer’s ire._

_But let’s also keep that to ourselves, shall we?_

_The look she was giving him was one Luke dare not forget. She was anticipating, hoping that maybe he likes it?_

_Yeah, something along those lines._

_But Lucifer’s face was unreadable as he chewed the cake._

_It took a few moments; the room was so silent Luke could have sworn that he can’t even hear Justine breathing._

_Until Lucifer swallowed the slice and cut another piece with his fork. But instead of lifting it to his mouth, he pressed the slice onto Justine’s lips._

_Justine furrows her brows; she knows what the cake tastes like. She’s been tasting the batter and adding flavors before they placed it in the oven. Yet, she relents, she opens her mouth and eats the piece on the fork._

_There is a self-satisfied smile in Lucifer’s face as he watches her chew the cake. But there was a tenderness in his eyes that Luke has never seen before._

_He’d never expect the leader of the fallen would bare his heart like that. If he even had one._

_Then, he takes another piece with the same fork and lets the utensil stay in his mouth for a while. When he plops the fork out of his mouth, there was only one word on his lips, “delicious.”_

_The way he got Justine blushing was as amusing as the smirk on his face. But it didn’t take the human too long to radiate so sincere a happiness Luke can feel it in his bones. The tenderness was back in Lucifer’s eyes after that._

_And honestly, Luke would have left it at that. He’s not a despicable being, he’s an angel. Except..._

_“Oh, a chihuahua” the demon said grinning at the little angel, “I almost didn’t see you there.”_

_Luke would wring that demon’s neck when he gets bigger.  
_   


* * *

  
“Beel, are you ready?” Luke says to his only companion.

Beel nods once before the little angel lifts his arms and casts a masking blessing. It’s like a spell effective in the human realm to grant children temporary relief from demons. Light quickly envelops the two of them before gradually dying down. He can feel the effect of the blessing in a perimeter around them. Beel is unfazed inside the circle.

Luke’s afraid. He’s small and Lucifer is big and powerful.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of being afraid,” Simeon had said to him once. Luke listened, but he didn’t understand it back then. He does now though.

Along with the fear, Luke feels courage. It’s not adrenaline, and it isn’t desperation. Just a feeling that he’s not alone in this, and he’s not just talking about the friend he has beside him.

Luke realizes he has a lot more growing up to do and that’s okay. He’ll learn, he’s been given the chance. He knows he has.

His courage doesn’t fade even when the big bad demon lands in front of him. He’s fighting for the happiness of his friends.

And that is enough motivation for this little angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) If you understood what exactly Lucifer called "delicious" in the flashback, then I've done my part. It was supposed to be Luke's POV (a literal child) so I can't say much. But I do admit that the vagueness of it adds much to the scene hahaha
> 
> (2)The other chapters are written from a limited third person POV from the character’s perspective. While this one was an experiment to a kinda omniscient third person where the “narrator” is clearly a different person from the main protagonist of the chapter. And I wrote it like this to give me motivation to actually start Luke’s chapter, who knows if it means anything more.
> 
> It was fun hahaha. Hope you enjoyed the change of pace.


	9. Those you love are never really gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A star is only cold when it’s dead. The Morning Star is no exception.

There were only three moments when Beelzebub was frightened.

The first was when he had to decide on whether to save Belphegor or Lilith. To abandon either of them is to leave their fate in another’s hands, the one he used to rely on was against them.

He was frightened of either of them dying, never seeing them again, never to hold them again in his arms.

The second was when Justine stood in front of him and Luke three years ago during the exchange program.

He was frightened because he never even got the chance to know this person. A human willing to risk her life for his. He was frightened because it was ever since that moment he knew that Justine was someone that he didn’t want to lose.

The third was tonight when Satan managed to summon Lucifer back to the Devildom using the real grimoire. He only got a glimpse of his eldest brother thru the portal. But it was enough.

It was enough for Lucifer to sense that someone else was staring at him. Enough for Beel to see the other demon’s icy, black eyes staring back at him.

Menacing and chaotic but at the same time empty and cold.

Beel is frightened that the Lucifer they called their brother has been lost to the chaos forever.  


* * *

  
Getting the antidote was easy enough, a knock on a door and the incubus just shoved the bottle into Beel’s hands before slamming the door back at their faces.

At least the bottle had instructions.

“This potion neutralizes the poison at entry point.”

Which means, they have to somehow introduce the antidote to her bloodstream. They don’t have the tools right now and Beel doesn’t know where he could get any.

Belphie says they are going to need to pour it over the wound.

And reopen the wound if needed.

Beel doesn’t want to think about that.

Or the fact that their rampaging first brother might be on to them right about this moment.

They were both mulling about their next move when Belphie’s DDD rings.

“Lucifer just left the Royal Castle,” read a text from Simeon.

Belphie doesn’t think it was from the angel, Beel can’t really tell. It seems a little too straight forward to be coming from Simeon, but he believes it wasn’t the brother they were running from either.

It was an empty food court they find themselves in. Because where else would Beel’s feet lead him?

Beel was staring at the vial of the antidote. Can’t he just drink that to administer it to Justine? He wonders what that tastes like?

Belphie must have sensed what he was thinking because he just swiped the bottle from his fingers and continued in front of Beel. He takes a seat at one of the tables. He typed in a text, a long one, probably informing the rest of their condition. He stares at the lit screen of his DDD for a while, before squeezing the lock button and promptly laying his head on the phone.

They don’t know what to do, they’ve talked about going back to the House but that seems like the very first location Lucifer will search for them. Maybe if one of their brothers could clear the house then maybe?

But still if Lucifer somehow managed to corner all of them in one location. They won’t be able to stop them individually and they sure aren’t willing to kill a brother to try ganging up on him.

So, they wait.

Until they felt an energy that wasn’t supposed to be there. From the entrance of the “Witch’s Brew” rests an angelic aura.

“Luke”

“What?” Belphie only pulls his head up partially.

“He’s out there.”

“Are you sure?” Belphie’s brows furrow as he regards this new development. But drops his head to his phone again.

“Can’t you feel him?” Beel shakes his twin’s shoulder.

“Shit,” Belphie rakes a hand through his hair. “He’s not trying to hide his aura.”

“We need to get him.”

“We’d be drawing that attention here.”

“But Lucifer is going to hurt him if we don’t do anything.”

“We’d be putting Justine at risk.”

Beel finds himself biting his lip. They are taking the least number of risks as they can, but can they really let go of Luke like that? But...

“What would you tell her if she learned that we let Luke get hurt?” Beel replies.

Silence. Belphie growls. He presses his forehead against the table again but Beel can see his eyelids shut closed. The link between them is closed as if he’s trying to concentrate.

As much as he wants to save Luke for Justine, he won’t if Belphie says “no”.

“Go do it,” Belphie relents. “You’re lucky Lucifer isn’t around yet.”

Beel feels his face split in a wide grin.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Just open a portal already.”  


* * *

  
They tried explaining the situation to Luke the moment Beel pulled him out of the portal.

Or at least Beel would have wanted to explain it properly, but Belphie doesn’t want to talk right now and it just ruins his need to give out more information.

The angel looks a bit disgruntled but at least he seems quieter than usual. An understanding, Beel could hope.

He’s getting hungry.

Before he can voice out the thought, the air felt heavier. It was as if a bolt of lightning hit too close to where he was standing. Unharmed but threatened.

“He’s here,” he feels Belphie telling him from their connection as a physical hand shakes him from his stupor.

Centuries of being loyal to Lucifer is backfiring on him right now.

It’s getting harder to breathe.

As he gets ready to run, Luke tugs on his sleeve. “I’ve got a plan,” says the little angel.

Belphegor stays silent as Luke explains his plan to them. The plan will remove the risk from Justine if it works, Beelzebub believes it will work.

They can do this. He looks at Belphie pleading for him to agree.

A look at Belphie tells him that his twin is pleading for him to disagree.

He pulls Belphegor closer and leans his forehead against his. He plays his fingers on the hair of his twin’s neck, smoothing it down his nape.

“We’re going to be okay,” Beel whispers.

“How can you promise that?”

“Because somewhere he’s still there.”

Belphie’s voice is trembling, “you can’t be sure of that.”

No, he can’t. He’s trying to convince himself the same thing. He manages a smile as he enacts the first part to Luke’s plan.

Soon, Belphie has ran off with Justine using the back entrance. Meanwhile, the two of them are a few paces outside the main entrance of the food court.

“Beel, are you ready?” Luke asks.

He’s not. Definitely not. The air around him feels cold but his hands are sweating.

Beelzebub nods once. He watches Luke put his hands together in a gesture of prayer for many humans. From his hands a bright, spherical light rushes outward to envelop their immediate perimeter.

He feels the energy release from Luke and surround them. This circle is supposed to repel demons, but he guesses it doesn’t apply when the demon’s already inside. But repelling isn’t what they’re after this time.

They are calling out to Lucifer.

Cause however powerful their brother is, there is only one of him. He can’t be in two places at once. If he is in front of them then he can’t be near Justine or Lord Diavolo.

The blessing normally works in the human realm to give children respite from demons and otherworldly beings. Sometimes, the circle of light can hide anyone within from most demons.

But they aren’t in the human realm and Lucifer isn’t just any demon. The angelic nature of the shield will attract demons in this realm.

It takes only a few seconds after the blessing is complete before Lucifer lands in front of them.

Lucifer steps towards the sphere of light and places a hand on it. His hand sizzles with the contact and the smell of burning flesh lingers in the air. His face twists in a smile.

How long is this shield going to last?

Beel watches Luke take a step back and knows that it’s their fear Lucifer’s reveling in.

Luke recasts the blessing. Making light pulse from their surroundings. Lucifer does not budge from where he is standing.

His smile grows, black eyes almost disappearing from the way it closes. He pushes his hand deeper into the shield, the opposing energies crackle against each other.

Luke tries to hold on to the shield. Beel wants to help, but his demonic energy is only going to oppose the angel’s.

Darkness envelops the hand on the shield, creeping out like veins into the surrounding light. It keeps on growing and growing, spreading until the most miniscule tendrils reach part of the shield on top of them. Luke struggles to keep his hold and erects a third barrier.

When half of the sphere has succumbed to the darkness, the shield implodes on itself.

Beel was thrown back by the force. He tries to hold his ground, but the energy exploding on his face pushes him a few feet away from where he was standing a while ago.

Luke is nowhere near where he was a moment ago. His prone body lay by a glass wall of one of the shops. A spider web of cracks mark where he hit the glass and a trickle of blood run from his forehead.

Lucifer takes slow steps towards the little angel and Beel knows that he needs to act now if he wants to save anybody.

Beel lunges at Lucifer. He pushes all his strength, with a little bit of magic to boost, to push his brother away from the little angel. He stands his ground as he watches the demon recover from his momentum. 

Lucifer grins. Wings, that suck the light out of its surrounding, spreads out to prevent him moving farther. 

Beel transforms into his demon form and readies his stance. His whole body is lowered, left leg pushed back, and hands only slightly in front of him. He waits for his opponent to approach.

He is greeted with a smirk as Lucifer walks towards him, stopping an arm’s length from the other demon. He copies his stance and folds his wings tightly against his back.

He doesn’t know who moved first. Beel’s hand immediately went for the back of Lucifer’s head as his other hand found purchase on his elbow. He pulls his arms as hard as he can while trying to maintain his grip on his opponent’s nape.

They used to play this game before. Grappling was one of the human sports Beel found interest in as an angel. Lucifer had agreed to learn it with him.  
He might have even let him win once or twice before he was the Avatar of Pride.

That was when it was just a game.

He wonders how long he can maintain his hold if he can’t even look at his enemy in the eyes.

For every push that he makes, Lucifer pushes back with a little more intensity than he gave. Beel manages a kick to the abdomen before a fist lands on his nose.

Will Beel prove to be a challenge or will Lucifer only be toying with him? He’s not sure but among all of them, Beelzebub is closest to Lucifer in brute strength.

All he needs is to buy time. This is the role he plays for tonight.

So even when he feels soreness spreading across his arms and legs, he keeps standing. He pushes at the limbs prying at him and tries to prevent his brother from taking another step forward.

Or another step farther for that matter.

They’re lucky Lucifer hasn’t tried spells yet. Beel botched that exam.

He still tries not to look at his opponent in the eyes. He refuses to think about the implications of those featureless eyes. He refuses to believe that his brother is gone.

He misses Lucifer.

Will he ever come back to them?

He manages to push his brother a few feet away from him. Sweat is dripping from his brow and he already smells blood trickling from his broken nose. There is a nasty cut on his forearm where his opponent dug his nails into him. Yet, he feels confident that he can hold his position for a few more hours.

He watches Lucifer encircle him. Trying to gauge when he will attack, lest he be caught unaware. He needs to prolong his defensive stance, that’s the surest way for this to work.

But instead of lunging for him. Lucifer takes a step in another direction.

Towards Luke.

Lucifer’s brings his hands to the center of his chest as a ball of electricity starts crackling.

Beel runs.

It’s magic, he can’t do much against that. But he knows that much power will completely decimate the little angel.

He intercepts the attack half-way.

It wasn’t his usual attack. This one was continuous stream of energy, Beel tries to keep his ground. But he feels his feet slipping.

It stings. The pain starts centralized at his chest but slowly spreads towards the rest of his body. The black lightning blinds his vision and unlike, a physical attack, he has nothing to hold on to.

The force pushes him backwards. The energy only gets stronger as Lucifer takes calculated steps forward. He tries to stand upright as the barrage continues.

If he gets pushed too much, his own weight will crush Luke.

Until his back hits something, sturdy enough to hold his weight and the force of the magical attack. He musters enough strength to pull it out of its stand and throw it at Lucifer.

It was a street sign. It managed to graze his opponent’s forehead and squarely hits his left shoulder. Most importantly, it stopped the stream of energy directed at him.

Beel falls on his knees.

And he watches as tendrils of dark energy pop Lucifer’s shoulder back in place. There was no indication of pain in his face, only a gruesome smile directed at Beel.

Beel scrambles, trying to shield Luke as much as he can. At the very least, his body will be able to carry the brunt of Lucifer’s attack.

Beel can’t find his brother in the demon in front of him. His eldest brother may have been strict, but Lucifer’s eyes has never been ice-cold to Beel. Flaming angry maybe, but the eyes that look at him now is new to Beelzebub.

Will this be the last thing he sees?

While Lucifer’s hand is high up in the air, preparing for a killing blow, a figure lands in between them.

It was Mammon, already in his human-like form. No wings, no horns. His arms are outstretched, feet planted firmly on the ground.

Lucifer stops. Beel can feel the maddening aura disappear. Lucifer has powered down from his demon form, but his body remained in its earlier position. His overcoat, vest, and tie are gone from his human-like form. 

What’s left is reminiscent of a broken human.

In Lucifer’s frozen state, Beel could see the red irises of his brother. And with those red irises, the warmth he was looking for. 

Beel was looking for those the moment this whole nightmare started. And he found it now, while Mammon was reenacting the time Justine earned Beel’s respect years ago.

The next second, Lucifer’s body folds in on itself, falling to the ground. Head lowered, hands gripping the hair at the back of his head, arms hiding his face.

Mammon still stands between them, but he has lowered his arms. He looks like he wants to approach.

Until Lucifer powered up again, wings unfolding carefully. The dark aura once again dances around his figure.

This time Mammon powers up, too. He takes a defensive, fighting stance.

But, Lucifer’s wings only take a moment to beat once before he was propelled from the ground. He has disappeared to the Devildom skies.

As soon as Lucifer is out of the vicinity, Mammon turns around and hugs Beel tightly. His legs give and they both fall to the ground. And since Mammon’s torso is completely exposed in this form, Beel could feel his brother’s heart pounding wildly against his chest. 

It was a moment before Beel realized he was crying on Mammon’s shoulder. Mammon’s arms are strong around Beel and he can feel leathery wings enveloping his back. Mammon’s hand is stroking the back of his head as Beel buries his face further into his brother’s shoulder.

When Beel has found control of his voice, he tells Mammon what he discovered.

“He’s still there,” Beel whispers still whimpering, “Onii-san is still there, he’s not gone.”

Maybe there’s a way they can bring him back. They have to, he’s their brother. They can’t just leave him like that.

Mammon says nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) “Onii-san” = older brother in Japanese. Based from Luci’s audio drama, it doesn’t look like his brothers call him that. But, there was something about that scene (and Beel) that made me want to use something more than his name. Besides, Mammon called Luci “big brother” in Luci’s birthday event so I have license hehehehe
> 
> (2) Lol. While editing, I just noticed how persuasive Beel can be hahahaha


	10. A gift from a dead sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does everyone just believe what others say about their birth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a foreword of sorts...
> 
> In this fanfic, Satan came into existence after the fall. Therefore ... well, I think you can figure out the implications of that :)))
> 
> My reasons in end notes.

The succeeding events following Lucifer’s arrival in the Devildom was a blur to Satan. Not because they all happened too fast, they did, but he should be able to keep up regardless. 

But because, there isn’t much oxygen getting to his brain when one of the most powerful demons in the Devildom is dragging him around said realm by the throat.

If Satan was born of Lucifer’s wrath, then why in the nine circles of hell does he have a tail instead of wings? 

Satan dangles from Lucifer’s grip. One of his hands hold on to the wrist strangling his throat while his other hand holds unto the grimoire. He dares not look down. He doubts he’s going to die from that drop, being a demon and all, but he is quite sure that at this height it’s going to hurt.

He can plead. But begging wasn’t really something he does, and he’s not going to start now. Not when he doubts whatever is controlling Lucifer will listen anyway.

He doesn’t really know where they are. The whistle of the wind keeps screaming. His sense of direction disappeared the moment Lucifer took him from the ground.

The only indication that they might just be hovering right now is the fact that his body feels vertical with respect to gravity.

It’s a wonder that physical forces work the same in the human realm and Devildom.

Finally, Lucifer starts talking and Satan feels the hand on his neck squeeze.

“You six took the energy to bring me here. I find that endearing, really I do.” Lucifer says. “But why two separate portals?”

Lucifer tilts the neck he is holding, and Satan hears a crack. Lucifer continues, “You figured out how to bring Justine’s dead body to the Devildom.” He presses his lips together in a forced smile and hums.

“She’s not dead,” Satan rasps out.

“Of course she’s not. I’m going to bring her back to life.” Lucifer says. “Once chaos reigns, the line between life and death blurs. All I need to do is tip the balance and the pieces will fall to place.” He pauses, pearly white teeth peeking in his grin, “And that starts with killing Diavolo.”

“You can’t.”

“Oh yes, I can, it’s time we break these chains anyway. My gratitude for taking the grimoire with you, I’m going to need that.” Lucifer pulls the grimoire from Satan’s grasp, and with a flick of his wrist the book disappears in a whisp of smoke.

He only noticed they were at the top of the Castle when Barbatos shouts at them. Two balls of energy fly past them, following the call.

Lucifer averts his attention to the butler on the roof, the smile he gives Satan then and there would have split his face in half. His eyes flash red for a moment before he lets gravity bring Satan back to ground level.

So this is what falling feels like. Oddly familiar, considering he was never an angel in the first place.  


* * *

  
_  
During their first few decades in the Devildom, Satan feels older than most of his brothers yet younger at the same time. Satan was told that he was born of Lucifer’s wrath, but Beel would always look at him longingly._

_Back then, Satan would smile and ask what’s wrong._

_Beel would reply, “Nothing, you just remind me of Lilith.” Then, he’d be gone._

_Back then, he’d assumed that Lilith also had blonde hair and green eyes. It was years later when he’d learned that Lilith had dark green hair and the same purple eyes as the twins. He couldn’t piece it together back then...  
_   


* * *

  
Satan wakes up on a bush, under a tree. He can see broken branches littering the area around him and somehow, he can see the Devildom skies from his position. Where is he again?

Oh yeah, Lucifer dragged him to the Royal Castle.

He’s sore all over and his back feels like it has gone through a pulverizer. Not that he knows how that feels like in the first place. He grabs his left shoulder with his other arm and pops it back in place with a wince. He feels the tendons pulling back together to heal itself. He’s forgetting something crucial.

He stares at one of the windows of the castle as he finds the will to stand up properly.

Suddenly, he hears a cry of pain from the inside.

Barbatos helped him escape from his brother’s grasp. Shit, the butler is not going to last long.

If he’s still alive that is. Satan’s pretty sure that the shout he heard was not Barbatos.

Despite the pain at his back, he runs towards the entrance of the castle. Once he reaches the hallways, it was easy enough to follow the scent of blood.

Where is Diavolo? He pulls his DDD from his back pocket but finds that his screen is broken, and it wouldn’t boot up.

He continues running until he finds an open door.

He pauses trying to figure out if Lucifer is still inside. He tries to sense the souls inside. From where he is, he can only sense one weak signal, an angel’s...

“Lilith?” Satan hears Simeon murmur from where he stands at the doorway.

He already knows Simeon is still alive, but the fact that Barbatos is unmoving and suspended from the chandelier cannot be good.

Satan’s first task is to get Barbatos off the ceiling, check if he’s still alive. Then, he can tend to Simeon.

“Lilith, is that you?” Simeon asks again.

“I’m not but you are free to keep calling me that, just keep talking,” Satan replies as he finds the rope that ties Barbatos on the chandelier.

He slowly unties it and lowers Barbatos unto the floor. He checks the butler for signs of life. He’s still there. There is a knife between his ribs, but better leave it there than pull it out. 

Then he checks on Simeon again, there are slashes all over his body, tattering his clothes where it came in contact but, the one that alarms him is the large wound at the center of his abdomen. One of his eyes is shut closed by a terrible bruise. His wings are painted the color of his blood, both broken where they are connected to his back. His legs keep twitching sporadically, a stark contrast to Barbatos unmoving form.

Satan needs to call for help. But he can’t exactly holler in the hallways. Who knows where Lucifer is right now?

He would have dragged any Little D’s he saw if he actually saw one.

Satan pats for Simeon’s DDD and uses it to send a text to Lord Diavolo.

Where the heck is he when he’s needed the most?

He sends another text to Belphie before he glances at Barbatos’ upright form near the wall and carries Simeon in his arms.

Satan lays Simeon near Barbatos. Barbatos is still somehow still breathing. He tears his sweater to strips and pulls out the knife. He quickly wraps the makeshift bandage around Barbatos.

It was a friggin’ dinner knife.

“Lilith,” Simeon calls for the nth time that night.

Why the heck is he calling him his dead sister’s name? A sister he wasn’t even able to meet.

“Lilith, where were you all this time? I thought you were gone.” Simeon says.

“Simeon, I’m Satan not Lilith,” he replies out of annoyance rather than anything. The angel’s hallucinations are getting on his nerves at the wrong time.

“Lucifer gave in to the chaos. He thought Justine was gone. Your brother actually learned to fall in love.” Simeon chuckles sadly. “I can forgive him; it wasn’t his fault.”

Of course, angels are the forgiving type. Even if the aggressor, basically slashed them to death.

“It seems like all is lost, but he’s not yet completely lost to us. You may be able to save him.”

“Really, Lilith can do that?” Satan mumbles under his nose. “Too bad cause I’m NOT Lilith!” Satan shouts. He turns to Simeon and gets a good look at the angel’s state. Both his eyes are shut and there is blood in his ears; he’s blind and deaf.

The reason Simeon kept calling Satan “Lilith” is because his aura is somehow similar to hers.

There is more to his identity than what Lucifer had told him.

He needs answers and fortunately, someone in this room might have something.

Satan leans towards Barbatos and gathers energy in the palm of his hand. He slaps his palm on Barbatos chest, watching the green light seep into the other demon’s body. His own body falters at the loss.

Did it work?

Barbatos is still unconscious but the cut under his eye is starting to close. 

Maybe, but it wasn’t enough. And Satan does not have any more energy to chase a possibly false lead. He needs to find Diavolo and get a plan going.

He was about to rise when a hand grasps his arm.

“Lord Diavolo is in danger,” Barbatos voice is hoarse as he talks.

“I know,” Satan says, trying to calm the butler.

“Lucifer needs to be stopped,” Barbatos continues.

“I know, we all know.” Satan says and takes a deep breath. It was a warning. “But we are not giving up on him.”

Justine could be damn sure that all of them would try their best to keep Lucifer’s ass in one piece despite the dangers. Satan and Lucifer might have their differences but they’re brothers and they don’t just sacrifice one of their own for the sake of anything.

This time it was Barbatos who said, “I know.” Then, “there is something you wish to ask of me.”

“Yes, two actually. First, why do I have Lilith’s aura? And second, how do I save Lucifer with Lilith’s abilities?”

Barbatos sighs, “To start, you must understand that Diavolo cannot raise the dead. Which is why he had to act quickly if Lilith was to be saved when they fell from the Celestial Realm. Before Lilith died, Diavolo pushed back what he could of her life energy back to her body. With most of the magical ability gone, Lilith was reborn into an angel without powers. No more different than a regular human.”

“Okay. What has that got to do with me?” Satan wishes Barbatos would just cut to the chase.

“You have always been an existence inside Lucifer’s mind, a failsafe that he should not rebel against your father. But during the war, you have failed in your primary objective, it was Lucifer’s wrath that allowed you to stray from that. As such, it was easy enough for Lord Diavolo to pull you out of Lucifer and place whatever is left of Lilith’s magical energy into you. Lord Diavolo’s interference along with the fact that Lilith has already fallen made you into a demon.”

“That gives me access to Lilith’s abilities,” Satan concludes. He’s curious now but they don’t have much time.

“As far as I know, yes, it should. Lilith has always been able to help Lucifer keep the void of chaos at bay.” There was a sad smile on Barbatos’ face. “Maybe another one of the reasons Lucifer doted on Lilith.” 

“How?” Satan prods. This was the pincher.

“That, I don’t know.”  


* * *

  
He needs more answers. And, unless Simeon is going to wake up anytime soon, nobody in the Royal Castle will prove to be more useful. Barbatos has offered the use of his room, but it might take more time than any of them have.

As soon as first aid was administered to Barbatos and Simeon, Satan high-tailed out of there and went back to the House of Lamentations.

He found Asmodeus pacing the entrance.

At least that was what he saw in the split second before Asmo heard the creak of the door and hit him with a burst of pink energy.

“Satan!” his brother exclaims before hurrying to his side and swiping off a speck of glowing energy from his shoulder.

He looks disgruntled but aren’t they all. Still...

“What was that for?” Satan grunts as he tries to stand up. His back needs a therapy after this night.

“I thought you were Lucifer,” Asmo sheepishly says.

“Lucifer hasn’t used a single, decent entrance tonight,” Satan’s back cracks once as he stretches it out, “you’re more likely to kill Mammon with that.”

Asmo flashes a peace sign.

“Is Justine in here?” Satan asks.

“Yeah, Levi and Belphie brought her a while back.”

“Is she okay?”

“Antidote looked like it worked. She’s stable.” Asmo starts walking down the hallways and Satan follows his lead. “But she’s going to need time before she starts doing anything.”

Satan keeps quiet for a few seconds. Would Asmo know anything about his connection to Lilith?

“Asmo?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Did you know that I was also born off Lilith’s magic.”

Asmo pauses midstep. Satan heard his breath hitch.

“You knew it, too. That I have Lilith’s magical aura.”

“How did you...”

“It doesn’t matter right now. How can her abilities help Lucifer?”

Asmo sighs once and runs his hand over his face. He takes one deep breath before he continues walking down the hallways. “Lilith had the ability to create boundary lines.”

“Powerful enough to contain the chaos?”

“Not exactly, but enough to shield Lucifer’s consciousness from the influence of the chaos. Just enough to let him keep control of his own body and mind.”

“Maybe I can still...”

“You may not be able to,” Asmo cuts in. 

“Why not?”

“You were born of Lucifer’s wrath and Lilith’s magic millennia ago. That doesn’t leave much for an identity, but you have one now. One that you developed over the course of time.”

“There may not be enough of Lilith’s abilities in me to make this work.”

Satan finds Asmo’s forlorn face worrisome, but they can’t give up now.

He remembers a parchment he picked up from the library. He pulled out the piece of paper from his pants pocket and shows it to Asmo, “Will this work?”

“What is that?” Asmo starts tracing the symbols of the page with his finger.

Satan was still trying to decipher the symbols himself. The tomes on the page were amalgamations of tomes he already saw from his many readings during the years. But combining different symbols almost always has a surprising effect, unless one already experimented with it.

“It looks like a seal of sorts, I saw it between the pages of one of the books on human shielding. It was stamped with my sigil except I know it’s not.” There were extra elements on the symbol that wasn’t his. And if his magic was derived from their sister’s then that must mean...

“This is Lilith’s handwriting,” Asmo whispers.

“Are you sure?”

“She has two scripts. A lousy one when she just needs to get her thoughts out and an impeccable one for the final version.”

“This is a finished spell?”

“Yeah, but this is the first time I’ve seen this one,” he sighs, “Belphie would know more about it.”

They reach the hallways and took a turn away from Justine’s room. Wouldn’t they let Justine rest in her room? A few paces later, Asmo leads them Levi’s room. The background music of a simulation game flows delicately to the hallways.

How does he have time to play games right now?

The stresses of the night fuel Satan’s anger far too quickly. He barely feels Asmo pulling his arm before he kicks the door open.

“LEVIATHAN!”

Levi is hunched over his computer. His microphone is near his mouth as he quietly talks to the game. A completely normal Levi pose, except Belphie is on the screen.

Wait, what?

Belphie is on the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Cont’d from foreword
> 
> Initially, I thought Satan was born after the rebellion. From chapters 1-20, the only thing said of his origins was that he was born from Lucifer’s wrath. And maybe, I read (or misread) somewhere there that he is nonchalant about Lilith’s existence? Or that he admits to never having really known her.
> 
> However, in the “Hatred” Devilgram story, he talks about her like he personally knows her and that she is someone he misses.
> 
> Which would not tie in with what I think I read in the main story.
> 
> Either I’m wrong or there were some inconsistencies in the main and side stories, which kinda happens if you have projects as big and complex as this game.
> 
> So just to make things consistent in this fic, Satan came into existence after the fall and he never really knew Lilith. The reason he was the fourth eldest is because, his persona was born with Lucifer (1) and his magic was born with Lilith (7). The middle ground between 1 and 7 would make 4 :P
> 
> (2) Outtakes  
> Satan: *carries Simeon’s injured body in his arms  
> Simeon: “Lilith, where did your breasts go?”  
> Satan: *pretends not to hear that
> 
> Me: this part just takes away from the feel of the scene  
> Also, me: but I don’t wanna remove it! ... Places an outtake.
> 
> (3) Did I get away with the dark green hair? Yes? Yes?  
> Okay, bye! :D


	11. The burden of the crown and an unwanted promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The realm vs his friend was a decision Diavolo never wished to make again.

__

_“Now wouldn’t that be the perfect idea,” Diavolo says gesturing with his arms as if the person he was speaking through the phone could see him. Almost knocking over the mug of hot tea from his table._

_“Lord Diavolo, as much as I want to stay in the Devildom for good,” Justine says then sighs, “I don’t believe Lucifer would agree to being the poster boy of the exchange program.”_

_“Nonsense, he’ll be delighted to be part of the poster couple of the harmony between the three realms.”_

_“Diavolo, you and I have a different understanding of Lucifer and his relationship with the spotlight.”_

_Of course, he knows about that. Not that Lucifer will outright refuse any request of his. But wouldn’t that be a sight? He laughs._

_“Maybe it is you who has an aversion with publicity?” Diavolo taunts._

_“Maybe? I have spent my entire life trying not to draw attention. I’m not really sure I’m brave enough for that.”_

_So that was that. The human was courageous enough to face the wrath of demons but falls flat in the scrutiny of her peers. Insecurities sure are a nasty thing, aren’t they? Still..._

_“I can wait.”_

_“Lord Dia-”_

_Somebody raps at the door to his office. Diavolo could have cursed at whoever was on the other side of his door until he sensed the familiar aura of his right-hand man. He smiles at the timing._

_“I think that’s your boyfriend outside my door. Would you want me to say something to him?”_

_“I’m good.”_

_“No?” that confuses Diavolo, was she just saying that because of his position? He would have loved to relay a message for the lovers. “Are you sure? Have you told him you’ll be coming in a few months?”_

_“I was hoping it’d be a surprise for his birthday?”_

_He lets out a hearty laugh, “Of course, wonderful idea!”_

_The knocking becomes more urgent. Justine must have heard that, too._

_“I got to go. Bye, Diavolo!”_

_“Goodbye, Justine!”_

_He closes the phone and calls to the person at the door._

_“Come in!”_

_Lucifer tentatively walks in and gently closes the door behind him. He glances at the open windows with disapproval but continues towards Diavolo._

_“You seem distressed, anything I can help with? ”_

_“I would hope so.”_

_Diavolo takes a sip of his tea while he waits for the demon to respond._

_Finally, Lucifer takes a seat in front of his desk._

_“Lord Diavolo,” Lucifer started, he never calls Diavolo with a title, especially in private, “promise that you will put the welfare of the three realms before my own.”_

_“Pinky promise,” Diavolo had said jokingly, holding out his pinky to the other demon._

_Lucifer had looked at Diavolo’s hand with disdain before raising a gloved hand and linking his little finger with Diavolo’s._

_That was when he knew that Lucifer was dead serious about this. Diavolo keeps his smile as he touched their thumbs together for a second._

_“So, is that the only reason for this visit?” the demon prince asks._

_“No,” Lucifer answers, “but now that that is out of the way...”_

_It was strictly work after that. Papers were shuffled along his desk and Lucifer left his office with a pile under his arm. Diavolo still can’t take his mind from the solemness his friend is radiating._

_Diavolo’s tea has gone cold at this point, but it was his favorite kind from the human world that he would have still drunk it anyway if not for the ringing of his phone. He takes a short sip before putting it down again._

_A little too precariously by the side of the table, if Barbatos has seen it._

_It was the royal physician._

_His mug shatters as it falls off the table._

_He cleans the mess under his table and takes the time to gather his thoughts. He’s going to have to call Justine again._

_They are going to have to postpone a lot of plans._

__  


* * *

  
Diavolo is a man of his word and he makes sure to keep the few promises he has made.

He was discussing having a second wave of exchange students with Simeon when he received the news of his father’s death. Barbatos offered the angels temporary residence in one of the palace’s rooms until the portal could be opened before Diavolo left for his father’s room.

The royal physician leaves him alone as he sits by his father’s bedside. The King might have been an absentee father in his later years, but Diavolo has recollections of his father’s smile from when he was very, very young. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him.

It couldn’t be more than a few hours before he spares his father one last glance and makes his way to his room. Diavolo would have to wait for all the former King’s power to transfer unto him before he takes the throne. There will be demons who will want to overthrow a new king.

He vaguely remembers giving Barbatos permission to reopen the DDD lines and requesting to not be disturbed before he closes the door to his room.

He falls unceremoniously in his bed and watches as flickers of gold dust dance on his fingertips. A sign of the transfer of power, further cementing the fact that his father is dead.

He cries.  


* * *

  
Diavolo’s DDD stirs him awake.

He must have fallen asleep.

The beeping must have been an alarm he has set incorrectly. His DDD has been in silent when he entered his father’s room; it wasn’t supposed to ring for messages or calls.

He picks up his DDD to silence it when he finds an abundance of notifications.

It was everyone.

Alarming since most problems would have to go through Lucifer before they reach him. And his right-hand man always makes sure that every problem is solved as efficiently as possible. He sits back up and scans through missed calls from Mammon, Asmo, Levi, Barbatos, hell even Solomon and Simeon. Then, there were also dozens of text messages.

At the bottom, his oldest text was from Lucifer.

_Diavolo, reply to this message if you are still able to._

_My brothers and I send our condolences._

Yes, Lucifer would know. The demon will be able to feel chaos trying to break through with the imbalance opened by the King of Devildom’s death.

The next message was from Solomon, and this one made him stand up.

_The gatekeeper has lost control._

Solomon knows? What does he mean he lost control? The last message was definitely still calm and collected Lucifer as always. Control is not something his dear friend gives up that easily.

Next was a long text from Asmo.

_I am in the human realm right now. Somebody stabbed Justine with poison, we need to get her to the Devildom. But somebody else told Lucifer that she’s dead. He’s lost control, Lord Diavolo. He’s causing a wreck here in the human realm. Will it be better if we could somehow drag him back to the Devildom? Please reply as soon as you can._

_Justine’s running out of time. My brothers and I found a way to bring her to the Devildom. But we will also be bringing Lucifer with us, for better or for worse._

Justine has been hurt. When the human was first starting to get close to the brothers, he feared that something like this would happen. But the way Justine fit in that family and the impact he had on Lucifer was something he couldn’t deny. He has never seen his friend so happy.

Yet, it would only be a matter of time before something happens to Justine that would cause worry. He just can’t believe it had to happen now.

The next one was from Simeon or at least it came from the angel’s DDD.

_Lord Diavolo, where are you? Lucifer has just attacked Barbatos and Simeon. They’re both in bad condition, I can’t find any of the Little D’s. Is Luke also in the Devildom? - Satan_

Here? Lucifer is already in the castle. What has he done already? Is it still reversible?

Finally, Levi’s texts come up.

_We had to bring Justine into the Devildom. Mammon says she might be the only one to stop Lucifer when it comes to it._

_Beel and Belphie have Justine hidden in Beel’s stomach, they went to get the antidote. Lucifer thinks we’re hiding you. I don’t know how long they can outrun him. Where are you?!_

_Lucifer found them. Luke managed to distract him enough for Belphie and Justine to escape. I am taking them back to the House. We need back up._

There were a couple of others and Diavolo has barely finished reading all of the messages when Asmo calls.

“It connected. It finally connected,” Asmodeus murmurs from the other line.

“Where’s Lucifer now?” Diavolo asks.

“He’s circling the House. I don’t know why. But Levi says they need to get inside. I can’t reach Mammon or Beel or Satan.”

Diavolo takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the words that could possibly seal his or his friends’ fate. “Tell him to go to the Palace.”

“But...”

“It’s going to be okay.”

“Diavolo, he wants you dead!”

“I know, I can handle him.” Diavolo feels Asmodeus’ hesitation on the other end of the line, “I will handle him.”

“You can’t,” Asmo stutters out.

“Asmodeus,” Diavolo says, “I am duty-bound to this realm and the balance of all three. You will lead him to the Royal Castle at once.”

“Yes, sir.” Asmo replies before hanging up the phone.

He knows why Lucifer wants him dead. He knows the extent of his friend’s loyalty.

And where it ends.

Diavolo is a man of his word but there is this one promise that he really doesn’t want to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my...
> 
> This took a while because I just got a job.
> 
> Who ever thought being an adult was easy? Definitely not me XD
> 
> Anyways, this might be subpar, especially the second half, since I just needed Diavolo to know what's happening around him and I needed a reason why he was missing hahaha
> 
> But fear not Dia fans, he's still gonna show up in this story.
> 
> The next chapter should be up by the weekend.
> 
> Now, I am putting that there so I'd give myself a deadline.
> 
> Have a nice day everyone :D


	12. Video games make reality a little more bearable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admit it, that’s why we fall into these traps.

Levi traverses the streets of Devildom really hoping Lucifer didn’t find them before he did. He’s still weak from creating that temporary copy of the grimoire, but it’s not like he can face his eldest brother anyway.

He follows the bond of his and Justine’s pact to a meat shop. The lock on the walk-in freezer has been charred and broken. Levi runs to where he hears teeth gritting. At the back, among rows of hanged meat, sits Belphie crouched down with Justine in his arms. His jacket was wrapped around Justine and blood was already seeping through the material.

“She’s still bleeding. I don’t know what to do. And—" Belphie shivers and holds her closer to his body "—and I need to find somewhere he won’t smell the blood. “

“It’s okay,” he was never one to play the part of the older brother, but Belphie needs him to right now, “I’m here we can move.”

“We need more time. Humans heal slowly, Lucifer is about to attack Diavolo and we need her alive. I need her alive.”

“We all do, okay.” He moves to pry Justine from Belphie, and he gives after warming tense fingers, “Did you give her the antidote?”

“I had to pour it over the open wound, she’s bleeding again.”

Levi tightens Belphie’s jacket over Justine. Belphie’s still shivering, he’s never seen the seventh-born look so vulnerable. “You did good, okay. Let’s get you both out of here.” He removes his own sweater to drape it over his brother.

He tries to balance Justine’s weight in his arms. He wasn’t really meant for physical work, but he tries.

Levi doesn’t ask any more questions.

This is just like the time Gentaro carried Ruri-chan in Princess Sakura and the Dragon of the Forlorn Woods. The series’ popularity gave way for a game adaptation. It was the same format as the one they played during Justine’s time as an exchange student where players could enter the world. But despite the success, critics always complained about how time in the game world is too slow compared to the real world.

Time...

That’s it!

Leviathan knew exactly how they are going to buy more time. He picks up his pace with renewed strength. Belphie‘s footsteps trail behind him.

“Where do we go?” Belphie asks as they exit the meat shop while scanning their surroundings.

“You said we need time, and I think I have a way to buy us more.” 

“How?”

“We’re going into the world of games.”

“Levi,” Belphie says, “this isn’t the time to be thinking of playing.”

“Just trust me on this, Farmlands of the Unrising Sun is a virtual reality game that allows the player to speed up time within the game.”

“Are you sure it’s going to work?”

“Might as well try.”

“All your games are inside the House, isn’t _he_ there?”

Leviathan’s steps falter. He hasn’t thought of that.

But would it be safer for her anywhere else? Besides if they get her inside the game, they may be able to hide her aura. It would be better in the House if they could manage to slip her in.

“Can you text Asmo and ask? Her best bet at recovering is still in the House of Lamentations.”

The Royal Castle might be an option, but Lucifer knows that place better than any of them. It would be harder to hide in an unknown territory that is familiar to the enemy.

That was the plot of CastleAkuMania.

What do you know? Weeb knowledge can be useful.

The road to the House of Lamentations is quiet until Belphie pulls Levi back by the arm.

“He’s here.”

They dare not move another inch closer. Levi now feels Lucifer’s aura closer in intervals, as if he were circling the perimeter of the House.

Asmodeus must still be inside. He sends a text.

No reply.

They stop for a while, Belphie seems to have gotten his bearings back together. So, Levi tries to ask a question. 

“Where is Beel? Wasn’t Luke with you?”

“They needed to redirect Lucifer.”

He doesn’t have a follow-up to that. He doesn’t want to know the answer.

Belphie moves to hand him back his jacket. But Levi stops him, his was still draped over Justine.

“You can keep it for a little longer.”

“You sure?”

“The cold never bothered me anyway.” Levi says with a grin. Aish, he always wanted to say that.

Then, his phone rings with a text from Asmo.

“Got a hold of Lord Diavolo. It should be safe in a minute.” It says.

“We can move.”

When the entrance was in sight, Belphie pulls his arm again.

“He’s still there.”

And he was. At the front porch cornering Asmo was their first-born brother in all his demonic glory. They were too far to hear. Levi can barely see Asmo’s lips moving as Lucifer’s back was turned to them.

But he can feel Belphie’s fingers trembling on his arm. He was holding on too tight, he was sure the skin would bruise.

They wait for something. Time stretched on far too long. The next second, they can be face to face with him. He can’t transform, he can’t summon Lotan. That would only reveal their position.

Until finally, his wings unfurl and Lucifer shoots to the skies.

At the front door of the house, Asmodeus collapses at the door. Belphie runs towards the fifth-born.

He remembers seeing this exact same scene during the Celestial War.

He takes his time; his arms are getting tired from Justine’s weight. But he tries not to think about it, if the Lord of Shadow can carry Henry then he can damn well carry Justine.

Belphie helps Asmo stand and they both open the doors to the House.

Asmo pulls out his phone and sends a text. His fingers were typing so fast. And even after they hear the telltale sound of the send button, he types another one and sends it.

“Where is he going?” Belphie asks.

“The Royal Castle, Lord Diavolo’s orders.”

“Are you crazy?! He’s going to kill him.”

“I know. I know. But we still got one card left to play.”

“And that is?” Levi is genuinely curious. By this point they’ve just about exhausted everything and everyone.

“Mammon,” answers Asmo in a deadpan voice.

“We’re screwed.”

“I know.”

Levi sighs and hopes that Justine wakes before Lucifer kills Mammon for real.  


* * *

  
Levi was so focused on the screen before him that he failed to sense the angry aura wafting from his door. It was too late when he heard the scream of his name from that brother that was the embodiment of wrath itself.

Satan storms into Levi’s room a mess of angry energy. His transformation was abrupt as his tail swishes along the broken glass and remaining water littering his room.

Levi doesn’t know how to act. As much as he knows his brother’s tendencies, he wasn’t usually on the receiving end of it. He stares and waits for the inevitable.

That is until the killer aura suddenly stops a few inches from him.

“Belphegor?” Satan asks as he stares at the image of Belphie on Levi’s screen. “Where is he?”

“On my screen,” Levi answers.

“I know that I can see that” Levi can feel Satan’s ire rising, but his is, too. “Where is he and where is Justine?”

“Really,” Levi sighs, “they’re in my computer.”

“Oh,” five, four, three, two, and...

“WHAT?!!!”

“Stop screaming in my ear.”

“Satan, you need to calm down.” Asmo interjects, he looks tired. They all are.

Satan takes a deep breath and pulls up a chair to sit beside Levi. He runs a hand over his face and looks at Belphie at the screen.

“Can he see us right, now?” Satan asks gesturing to Belphie on the screen.

“Yes, I can.” Belphie answers for himself, his voice sounds weird through the speakers of Levi’s computer. He should have invested in better speakers, but he usually uses his headphones anyway.

“Good,” Satan braces his hands on his knees to take a better look, “I need to know how Lilith can help Lucifer with the chaos.”

“Why?” Belphie says, “It’s not like...”

“Let’s just say I might have access to her magic.”

“How?”

“Can’t explain right, now.” Satan says at first, but it looks like Belphie won’t give him any answers. “I don’t understand it fully myself.”

Belphie looks at everyone in the room. Levi catches Asmo nod before Belphie starts speaking.

“Inside Lucifer’s mind there is a clearer distinction on which is the void, and which is him. Lilith can create a boundary that helps separate that.

“The last time this happened, when Lord Diavolo’s grandfather died, Lilith was practically glued on Lucifer’s side making sure that the void does not take over his consciousness completely.”

“What did she do if ever it gets too much?” Asmo asked.

“It never got to that point, I guess. Father’s grace was a source of stability and I guess having Lilith’s aura near him was enough for Lucifer. She had a lot of countermeasures, some of them she thought to Beel and me but Lucifer’s far past the point of any of those working.”

“I always thought she had a back-up plan,” Levi says.

“I know she did, but she always made sure it never came to that. So, neither of us learned about it.”

“This seal,” Satan says, lifting a piece of paper to the webcam.

Belphie took a second to scrutinize the piece of paper before his eyes blow open. Levi gasps in surprise. That is Lilith’s handwriting.

“Where did you get that?” Levi asks when Belphie still seems too shocked.

“It was tucked into one of the books in the library.”

“What is it doing there?” asks Levi.

“I don’t know,” Satan says, “but what does it do?”

Belphie whispers, too low that Levi almost didn’t catch it.

“What?” Levi hears Asmo sigh.

“Our only option is to,” Levi murmurs then roars. How can that be their last resort?

“Are you sure there’s nothing else?” asks Satan.

“As far as I know,” Belphie says, “Satan may be able to manage it with Justine’s help. Her ability to magnify our powers and the fact that she is a descendant of Lilith may just be what we need.”

The room was plunged into silence. Everyone was trying to look for another solution, but at the same time tempting each other to take the only suggestion thrust at them. Until a creaking door opens. Levi knew that the sound was too perfect to be from his real door.

“Whatever it is, I’m in.” A voice says from behind Belphie.

“Justine!” 

There’s a hopeful, mischievous grin on her face. It used to be a blessing how she could just barge into a room and bring joy to each and every one of them. But that smile on her face was just breaking Levi’s heart right now.

Levi does not want to be the one to break the news to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say weekend? I meant...
> 
> Yeah, sorry about that hahahaha. Here's a virtual croissant!
> 
> I kinda lost Levi at the end. But, man, it was fun to add in those video game/anime "references" to try to emulate how his mind works. 
> 
> So, only one chapter left and as they say "save the best for last" :D


	13. Salvaging the remains is not the same as moving on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Combinations and risks are Mammon’s specialty. Can he figure out a set of choices that would get them out of this hellhole? Or do those simply do not exist?

Mammon breathes heavily as he decides on the best road in the maze. He always believed that high risk yields high reward, but not this time.

It’s just that this time, he is so not taking his chances at getting caught. 

He needs to buy everyone time. Diavolo needs to amass as much power as he can get before fighting Lucifer. Justine needs time to heal from her wounds. And he knows that somewhere, Satan is formulating a plan to save them somehow.

Mammon takes the path with less chances of getting caught.

Lucifer might have known this maze like the back of his hand. But Mammon has the experience of running away from Lucifer.

He’s not completely hopeless here.

It takes him an hour before he is back to where he started, the entrance of the maze. He curses and was about to turn around when he feels a force push him through the door.

A hand clenches his throat, holding him way above his height. His wings flail uselessly behind him. Lucifer’s face greets him. There was a certain evil, sadistic aspect to his smile that Mammon swears he has never seen on his brother’s face before. His whole eyes were black, the type of black that sucks the light around it. He wishes to see blazing red eyes again. 

How the heck did that last turn leave him with a greater chance of survival?

But before he passes out from the lack of air, a force pushes him away from his brother. He was thrown back to the wall.

Mammon hears and sees Diavolo plant himself firmly between them. The crowned prince has a curved blade in each hand. His whole posture is meant to defend one brother from the other.

As soon as he gets his bearings from being pushed outwards, which takes exactly a second or less, Mammon notes. Lucifer stands straight, but his back is relaxed, wings gently settling into a resting position. He gives the two demons in front of him a smile.

Another creepy smile if you ask Mammon. It was a kind of unsettling that is far different from the ones he usually has.

Lucifer pulls the grimoire out of thin air. 

“Good you’re here. I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time. But I guess I was too content, too happy to ever consider pushing through,” he says. 

Diavolo just watches.

Lucifer dons his human form. He makes a point of just standing there and licking his thumb to help turn the page. He looks to be focused on the tome, but Mammon has a feeling Lucifer can tell if he so much as flinches.

“Ah, here it is.” He says, a red fingernail pressed unto the open pages of the grimoire. Then, a chain tattoo appears across the back of his hand, encircling both of his hands repeatedly and disappearing into the cuff of his sleeves. 

The mark of his oath to Lord Diavolo. A mark his gloves would have hidden if he were wearing them.

“It’s time to break these chains,” he says as onyx eyes stare up at the two of them.

He doesn’t even look at the page once as he recites the incantation. Lucifer has already memorized the words, all he needed was the grimoire. 

How long he has this in his head, Mammon could not tell. As far as he knows, Lucifer doesn’t even need Diavolo’s presence in this ritual. Lucifer’s just using the excuse to rile him up.

The tattoos glow a yellow hue at the start. His voice grows louder and the incantation abruptly ends, the chains lift from his skin. The sound of shattering metal fills the air as the glow dissolves into nothingness.

Lucifer shows them his bare hands, front and back. No trace of the chains. Red gloves encase them as he returns to his demon form. There is a sinister, self-satisfied smile on his face as his wings settle behind him.

At eye level, he swipes his left hand from right to left. Coiling, black energy traces its path until Mammon hears a ringing sound he hasn’t heard since their rebellion. Lucifer’s hand clasp at the end of the path as the black energy transforms into his longsword, Seraph. The blade manifests fully as he twirls it in his grip and points it towards them.

Mammon clearly remembers that sword being silver and not I-will-eat-you-alive black.

“I was itching for this fight,” Lucifer announces with a chuckle, “I’ll give you the first move.” 

With that Diavolo charges.

Lucifer raises his sword to stop Diavolo’s blades from slicing his face. The grin never disappears from his face as he brings the battle to the air.

Diavolo is a master at the cross blades. The fluidity in which he moves is practiced and the blades move as if an extension of his arms. It’s clear that he knows how to fight.

But Lucifer has fought in a war. He has experience fighting others in a matter of life and death. He may have lost but the centuries have given him the time to contemplate how he could have improved.

A fight between a protégé and a veteran never ends well.

Especially when said veteran seems to be laughing at every and all attempts his opponent makes.

Every time Diavolo manages to wound Lucifer, a shadow tendril of energy patches his skin before he even bleeds. Meanwhile, Diavolo starts emitting a dark red energy after his arm received a nasty cut.

The prince was the stronger fighter, it would seem. Lucifer was always pushed back every time Diavolo charges and there were a few destroyed tiles on the floor after he missed his opponent or even when he was propelling himself from the ground up.

But Lucifer was faster. He only stays still for Diavolo to take aim then he avoids the blow with precision. He hasn’t been on the offensive for a while.

He was deliberately tiring Diavolo out.

Mammon wants to shout this to Diavolo, but he figures the prince already has that figured out. He also doesn’t want to deflect Diavolo’s attention unless Lucifer decides to attack.

Diavolo has also stayed at the ground. The energy he was steadily emitting earlier starts to flicker.

This is bad.

Mammon would have joined in the fight, summoned his own weapon, and helped. But Lucifer confiscated his bow after the tenth time he’d pawned it. He looks at his surroundings, there must be something. This is the Royal Castle, damn it.

“This isn’t you,” Diavolo grunts as their blades clash in a standstill for the nth time.

Lucifer kicks Diavolo and flies away.

“I’ve been hearing that all night,” he says as he rushes forward to attack, “I thought you’d be more original.”

Diavolo parries Lucifer’s sword with his right and follows through with the left blade.

Lucifer’s right-hand lifts from the hilt and he grabs Diavolo’s left blade in his fingertips. Tendrils of black energy rise from his wrist to his fingertips as he slowly tightens his grip on the sword. 

Blood starts dripping to the ground.

The blade breaks. Lucifer swipes the hilt of the sword from Diavolo’s hand and blasts him with concentrated energy.

Lord Diavolo reaches the wall before the broken pieces of metal could fall to the ground.

The prince has barely picked himself up when Lucifer threw the broken sword at him. He screams at the pain. The blade sinks deep into the wall and the hilt effectively pins Diavolo there.

“Not used to pain, I see.” Lucifer grins at Diavolo as he slowly starts stalking forward. He lets the cluck of his shoes resound as the room spirals into tense silence. “Well, let me make this quick,” he continues, “For the sake of our past friendship, I guess.”

Shadowy tendrils run from the fallen angel’s feet to the down demon. They creep past the floor and hold Diavolo in place with his own shadow. Seraph rings in the air as Lucifer nears his prey.

Diavolo struggles against his bonds. His red energy grows brighter but it only accentuates the tendrils keeping him in place.

Mammon, do something!!!

Okay, okay, wait! There!

Mammon removes a small portrait from its place on the wall and throws it with all his might into the air. The room is filled with the swoosh of the frame and the screams of the poor sap trapped in the painting.

The portrait hits the chain holding the chandelier in place. The ornament falls between Diavolo and Lucifer. Lucifer visibly recoils from crystal shards of the chandelier, but it doesn’t look like it hit anything vital.

It did the job of distracting Lucifer from killing Diavolo though.

By redirecting his attention to him.

Mammon watches as Lucifer’s head slowly turn to him. He heard a growl as familiar purple aura seep from his brother.

Okay, Lucifer’s mad at him. Nothing new about that. This is known territory.

But the purple aura dissipates while shadow tendrils creep from Lucifer’s neck and plants itself on the paper-thin cuts on his cheek. An inky energy painting his nerves and vessels black.

The grimace turns into a grin as he stalks towards Mammon. He was taking his time, reveling in the second-born’s fear.

In retaliation, Mammon picks up whatever is closest to him.

A vase. Great.

Mammon throws the heavy thing as best as he could. Lucifer only slices it with his sword. The crashing of porcelain and an otherworldly howl fill the otherwise silent room.

He tries to move sideways and kicks the podium that the vase was displayed towards the older demon.

Lucifer only kicks it back at him, hitting him square in the chest.

Mammon falls on his knees. He watches as shadow tendrils travel from his brother’s feet to his body. He feels the electric cold of the energy climb up his body and encircle his neck.

Slowly squeezing the breath from him.

He’s rooted in place clawing at his neck. There is nothing to grasp onto, but he could clearly feel his windpipe closing. There is wetness from where his own nails dig at his neck helplessly.

Only a few feet away from Mammon, Lucifer kicks the broken podium away. He crouches to Mammon’s eye level.

“Time and time again, I have allowed you to prove yourself. But I guess I was a fool to think you’d rise up to any challenge.”

The second-born feels his eyes tearing up. And maybe Lucifer’s words hurt more than being hit by a podium or strangled by intangible tentacles.

“Face it, Mammon, you will never be enough.”

It hurt more than anything.

Lucifer stands up to his full height and glances at Lord Diavolo. The prince is still trying to free himself from the blade pinning his wing on the wall and the black tendrils around his feet.

Lucifer glares back at him with dark, featureless eyes. How do those eyes seem like it could look past your soul?

Not like his usual red eyes don’t, but that’s beside the point. Mammon would rather be strung upside down in the House Lamentations than at the pointy end of Seraph.

Which he is sure would happen right about now.

Except it didn’t.

Cause it wasn’t him at the pointy end of Seraph.

It was Justine.

His human, their human stands in front of Lucifer.

She’s shaking, she’s afraid. Mammon could smell dried blood on her.

The sadistic smile disappears from Lucifer’s face. From his standpoint, Mammon could see shock.

And maybe relief.

“You’re alive?”

Justine nods. But her back is to him, Mammon couldn’t see anything else.

“This can’t be real,” Lucifer says.

“Lu, it’s me.” Her voice was gentle not more than a caress in the broken night.

Mammon feels the energy around his windpipe getting tighter.

“Justine,” Mammon rasps out, “get out of here.”

She shakes her head and pulls her shirt upward. White bandages wrap around her abdomen, a dark red blotch indicates where her wound should be.

Lucifer takes careful steps towards her, sword still too close to stabbing her.

With the shadow tendrils clinging to him, Mammon could only tug at her pant leg. Justine does not budge.

Please, please, please, not on his watch. Not again.

Lucifer moves to directly in front of her and slips the sword between her skin and the bandages. His eyes do not leave her face as he swipes downward, cutting through the strips of cloth.

Justin winces as Lucifer peels the cloth from her wound completely. Blood and barely healed skin stick to the bandages as the wound reopens at small tears. His hand hovers over the wound, as if afraid to make contact, afraid to hurt her any more than he already has. She reaches upward to caress his cheek. His attention returns to her face.

“It’s me, please come back to us.” her thumb wipes away the tears falling from his eyes, “Come back to me.”

Red irises make their reappearance as Lucifer falls to his knees. The shadow tendrils recoil back at him like a rubber band snapping in place.

Lucifer has transformed back to his humanoid form. Justine pulls the fallen’s head into her chest, encasing his body with her own.

Mammon feels the air return to his lungs unrestricted. In the momentary peace, Mammon notices the rest of his brothers surrounding them.

Lord Diavolo grunts as he pulls the hilt of his broken sword from his wing. He stands from his prone position and walks towards them. He grips his unbroken sword tightly in his right hand, his knuckles have paled at the force.

No, no, no, not like this.

Mammon tries to stand but he falls beside Justine.

The rest of his brothers gang up around them, but only Beelzebub is brave enough to actually block Diavolo’s path.

“Stand aside, Beelzebub.”

Beel shakes his head and refuses to move.

“That’s an order,” Diavolo growls.

He’s trembling, even Mammon could see his knees are ready to buckle. But Beel only stands straighter.

Justine continues to whisper in Lucifer’s ear, combing her fingers through his hair.

Lucifer is shaking. His aura is all over the place, the energy he emits fluctuating between his own and something perverted. They don’t really know how long he’ll be in control.

“Let him pass, Beelzebub,” Lucifer orders, “This has to be done.”

The prince takes tentative steps forward until Justine speaks in defiance.

“No.”

“I had an agreement with Diavolo,” Lucifer says.

“We did not. And we are not letting you go.”

“This is for the good of all the realms.”

“As far as I know, killing you will only delay the void. How does that help?”

“Time,” his breath hitches, “you know by now how invaluable it is.”

“No.”

“Please, don’t be stubborn about this.”

“No.”

When Lucifer only growls at her response, she looks to Diavolo.

“We found a way to stop the void without killing Lucifer.”

“How?” There is disbelief in his tone, but the grip on his sword slackens.

“We keep him suspended in his mind’s space.”

“You will contain him? Justine, in theory that would work. With his consciousness and subconsciousness in the same plane the void will have nothing to latch onto. But lesser demons have escaped spells and artifacts. His power alone could not be contained in a single vessel.”

“But there is a vessel that can contain his power.” She pulls out the diamond on the chain on her neck.

“That will only work depending on the spell you use,” Lucifer whispers at her ear, just enough for even Diavolo to hear.

“How about Lilith’s?” Satan says from beside Justine.

“Lilith’s?” Diavolo asks.

Satan moves forward and shows a piece of paper to Diavolo.

“Don’t you think I haven’t tried?” Lucifer says with a cynical chuckle.

“My magic directly came from Lilith,” Satan states, “I should be able to do it.”

“Satan, your magic is past the point where it is exactly Lilith’s,” Lucifer chides then fondly adds, “Your magic evolved with your identity.”

“I know, but maybe I can direct it to its original form with Justine’s help. Magic passed down by humans barely change even through generations.”

“Let us at least try,” Justine pleads to Diavolo.

“This is too risky,” Lucifer grunts, curling tighter into himself. Head tucked between his knees.

Diavolo looks speechless. Nobody has ever seen the Devildom heir so indecisive.

They need something to tip the prince to their side if they want this plan to work.

Mammon feels a tug on his sleeve. Asmo is pulling on it, daring him to say something.

But what?

“C’mon. Risks, this is your specialty.”

Mammon gapes as everybody looks at him.

Oh no, he won’t be responsible for...

He catches Justine’s eyes, red and tired. She’s still clutching onto his brother’s head, the immediate danger of being so close out of her mind.

Damn it.

“Gimme that,” he gestures to the paper in Satan’s hands.

“Why?”

“Oh, for his sake, would you? Just this once.”

He studies the writings on the diagram. And yes, it was definitely Lilith’s spell. Written nicely as she does when she’s sure of anything.

Then, he gestures to Justine.

“Can you come here for a sec?”

She hesitates, but she follows.

And maybe Mammon breathes easier when he knows he can shield Justine with his own body in case big brother decides to explode on them all.

“May I borrow the diamond?”

Justine removes the necklace from her neck and gives it to Mammon.

He places the diamond at the center of the diagram and taps it once. A flurry of colors burst. He watches as the points of lines run around each other. Jumbled lines form as they move across the space with no real path.

This isn’t going to work.

Next, he pulls on Satan’s hand, who almost loses his balance from his position beside Mammon. He uses his brother’s finger to tap against the diamond.

This time the light does not stray from a spherical shape the size of a human head. But the lines that form still run around each other unpredictably.

Close but no cigar.

He sighs. And looks at Diavolo. He’s already by Lucifer’s side. But instead of the imposing stature he carried before, he was slouched over his right-hand man. He’s as close as he can be without touching the other demon, trying not to provoke this unfamiliar fragility.

And Mammon knows. They’re just as hopeless if Lucifer dies.

Mammon holds his hand out to Justine. Justine places her hand in his.

So small, so fragile. Their human. But so brave, that courage has been the bane of their existences ever since they met her. But none of them would have her any other way.

He places her hand on top of Satan’s wrist and makes his brother tap the diamond again.

He watches the light burst from the diamond a third time.

This is it. If this combination doesn’t work, then nothing will. Adding any of their magic will only complicate the spell even further.

He watches as the points of light run around each other. Like earlier, the paths seem to be contained in a sphere. Not what he’s looking for.

But the lines seem to be moving closer to each other. This isn’t the final form.

The sphere tightens, elongating horizontally, until all that’s left is a bright ring. Pulsing, alive, and consistent.

Mammon feels his shoulders sag.

“It will work,” he announces looking at Diavolo. “Satan and Justine can do it.”

“Are you sure?” Diavolo says.

“Yeah, but any of us helping will only disrupt the spell.”

Satan lets out a self-satisfied smile while Justine smiles in relief.

But that’s the problem, the spell works too well. There’s no telling when and if Lucifer will be released from his mind’s space.

For all they now, he’d be there for eternity.

Mammon bites his lip, hoping nobody notices. For once, he needs to keep this secret. His tongue tastes iron but he manages a tight-lipped smile for Justine.

Satan pulls her up and ushers her back to Lucifer. Justine whispers something in Lucifer’s ear that makes him relax. He settles himself in her arms.

Mammon watches Justine speak the incantation to power up Satan. Her grip on Lucifer tightens, he can see it in the way her hands dig into Lucifer’s sleeve. 

But their eldest brother doesn’t seem to mind at the least, his hand stays on her cheek, thumb wiping the area below her eyes. His eyes are half-lidded, Mammon has never seen his brother so tired and weary.

Justine holds him closer to her chest when Satan starts the spell. Mammon can see Lucifer’s mouth moving, but his voice is too low, drowned out by the winds that start moving around them.

It doesn’t help that Asmo starts wailing, two words into Satan’s spell. It might have been the reason Satan’s voice cracks every so often. He offers a hand to the fourth eldest’s shoulder and for once it wasn’t pushed away. Mammon can see that Beel has buried his head on Belphie’s shoulder as the seventh continues to watch. Levi is sobbing quietly, alone, until Asmo drapes his arms around the otaku’s form.

Mammon’s eyes are glued on the couple. A seal forms below them, glowing the color of candlelight. Justine nods a few times to something Lucifer said, and her mouth starts moving.

Justine starts singing a lullaby from the human world, one Mammon heard his brother humming when he thought no one was in earshot. A song heard more often these past few days. For the first time that night, Lucifer’s smile is genuine and warm.

The light from the circle grows brighter. The last thing Mammon sees before the light begins to blind him was a parting kiss gingerly placed on the top of his eldest brother’s head. Lucifer was still looking intently at Justine.

By the time the bright light dimmed down, Lucifer is nowhere to be found. Justine’s arms are unmoving, seemingly wrapped around the form of a phantom. She crumbles.

Satan slumps down on the ground. Mammon keeps a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. But his eyes are still locked on Justine’s lone form. A squeeze on his hand brought his attention back to Satan who nodded towards Justine.

Mammon stood back again to reach out to Justine and pull her up. She’s still shaking, left hand wrapped around her right fist. He can see more blood seeping through the reopened wound on her side. 

It didn’t take much for Mammon to pry her fingers open. On top of her palm is the black diamond that was once on Lucifer’s forehead, a chain attached at the back.

Mammon clasps the chain around her neck. The diamond glowed once before she transformed.

She was wearing a suit and pants combination like the Avatar of Pride’s demon form albeit in a silver and black color scheme. Horns and wings reminiscent of Lucifer’s appeared on her head and back. Specific cuts on her clothes reveal the pact marks on her skin, a sign of the demons this one human is associated with.

And if that isn’t enough a scabbard rests on her hip, ornate leather strap beneath the cape, slung over one shoulder, and snuggled between the wings on her back.

From where her right side is exposed to reveal Belphie’s mark, Mammon can see her wound closing. The skin and tissue mending themselves until all that remains is a smear of blood on smooth skin.

Levi hands Justine Lucifer’s sword. The moment she touched the handle, bright white light spirals around the handle intermingling with the dark metal until it cements itself in place. A marbled black and white pattern now decorates the sword until the top of the mirror-finish blade.

Seraph looks too big for her hands, her body, her everything, as they help her slide it in place at the scabbard on her hip. But there is nothing they could do about it now.

“This isn't forever. We’ll get through this,” Mammon whispers, only because that is as much as he trusts his voice right now. 

Her face scrunches again and she collapses in his arms. He rests his chin on top of her head and wraps his arms around her shoulders. Her wings are down, joints pressed against her sides, two more pairs of limbs trying to hold everything together. The rest of his brothers gang up on her, following them to the ground as both of their knees give in to the weight. Lord Diavolo has left the room, privacy the only comfort he can give.

Justine starts wailing and Mammon can only hold her closer. He feels his brothers’ arms hug them tighter. Sobs and sniffles surround them. He can’t - won’t deny his tears either.

Until Lucifer comes back, he’s in charge of the seven of them. And he’s so not looking forward into filling that void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Yes, because where I come from Finales are a two-hour special hahahahaha
> 
> (2) ooooh and a LONG Version of Justine’s demonic transformation appearance, I did not exactly rethink this but here is the un-edited version for those who are curious:
> 
> “A cape was on her shoulders with the same peacock feather decals as his eldest brother. The shirt underneath was“ collared with cuts on the sides. Two rows of buttons run down her abdomen but leave her sides open. Belphegor’s mark peeks from where the cut on her right starts and Beelzebub’s mark shows proudly on her left waist. The first few buttons are opened enough to reveal Lucifer’s pact mark on her chest. Her right sleeve was cut off to show Mammon’s mark on her bicep, and a gauntlet covers her right forearm to the back of her hand. The gradient design on her left sleeve seems to point to where Satan’s mark resides on the back of her left hand. The dress pants she wore hugged her legs except for the the carefully placed holes revealing Leviathan’s pact mark above her left knee and Asmodeus’ mark high on her right thigh.”
> 
> And then I thought... only Asmo would approve of that, so I kept the "official" description vague so you guys could imagine whatever floats your boat. Plus, it helps that you don't have to go through that much text, better for the flow.
> 
> (3) Mammon's powers huh? Their birth orders are also an indication of their power level. At least that's what the fandom is headcanoning and I need a reason why. So that was my brain came up with. Sometimes, knowing what will happen next is power enough.
> 
> Why doesn't Mammon use it often? No fun in that XD
> 
> (4) Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it! And I hope everyone has a wonderful day, even for those who don't celebrate the holiday, you all deserve the love <3
> 
> I kinda feel guilty about the open/sad ending. But it is what it is.
> 
> So this is the end of "Void", hope you enjoyed the ride.
> 
> Until next time!


	14. If ever you're in my arms again (Sequel Teaser)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the spirit of Christmas, and because I feel guilty about leaving y'all with a sad ending. Here is a teaser for a sequel.
> 
> Chapter title came from an old song I still listen to nowadays.

Justine opens her eyes to a bedroom.

Lucifer’s bedroom to be exact.

The space looked just like his bedroom in the House of Lamentations. Except for a few differences. The ceiling was not there, there was only an expanse of night sky. The stars were sparse, and clouds float somewhere up above. There was no moon in sight.

Despite the lack of artificial lighting, the room is completely illuminated. There doesn’t seem to be wrong with how it was lit except that the light had no single source. Anybody would easily be able to read a book in any corner of the room. There weren’t that may dark areas.

The only shadows in the room were in his fireplace.

A fire was roaring quietly in the fireplace. But instead of yellow or red, the flames were black. The darkest black she has ever seen.

The same shade as Lucifer’s eyes and wings when the void of chaos took over him.

The demon in question stands watching the fireplace. His back was to her, but she just knows it’s him.

Justine runs to him. He was so close, he’s there. She could just reach out her hand to him...

But she can’t.

An invisible barrier stops her halfway through the room.

She punches the barrier and screams at the top of her lungs. But nothing happens. She feels the tears stinging her eyes as her knees give out.

“Lucifer,” she whispers.

Then, she watches one gloved hand clasp his chest as he turns around.

His eyes widen as he finds her at the floor. He immediately crouches down, pressing one hand on the invisible wall as he tries to hold her. His mouth is moving but his words are muffled.

Tears are falling freely as Lucifer tries to punch the wall harder. Justine even saw dark purple lightning dancing in his fists but nothing happens.

She leans on the wall, and stares.

At least she knows he’s alive.

She smiles. This is enough. It has to be. She can make do.

Justine presses her hand on the barrier, aligning their fingertips together. She can feel warmth, that wasn’t there before.

She’ll take what she can get.

Lucifer stops whatever spell he was muttering and stares at their hands. Almost touching, but still separated. He slumps down the floor, as he tries to press his body closer to hers.

Their foreheads should be touching, heck she’d be seated on his lap if not for this stupid barrier.

But this is their reality now.

She weeps.

He removes his gloves and presses his hands against hers. She wishes she could pull it, wrap her arms around his waist. Kiss him, tangle her legs in between his. Anything.

She’d give anything just to be able to interlace their fingers together.

He was talking, she can feel his chest rumbling. But his words are muffled. Justine can’t help but sob harder, her body curling on itself.

What’s the point, they can’t touch anyway.

Until she hears humming.

She looks up to see his lips moving, and even though the sound is muffled by this stupid barrier. She can hear his lullaby, feel him for just this one moment.

“Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what I thought as I was editing that thing...
> 
> "What is this? Covid????"
> 
> Hahahaha
> 
> Whether that helped my case on leaving this story on a lighter note is up to you I guess. Coz I didn't feel like it helped my case...
> 
> At least they will get to see each other again, right? Right?
> 
> But sadly it took half a year to write "Void", with the right inspiration and motivation to boot. And though I want to release a sequel soon, I don't have a plot right now, just this one specific scene. It might take a year or two for an actual continuation of this story.
> 
> I do hope y'all have a wonderful day and may the next year be kinder to us all. 
> 
> Until next time! ^_^


End file.
